


Love Lessons (A Professor Hiddleston Fan Fiction)

by GoddessofMischief2014



Category: Actor RPF, British Actor RPF, Tom Hiddleston- Fandom
Genre: Actor Tom Hiddleston, Age Difference, Drama, Emotional Sex, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Feels, Flirting, Hiddles hands, Infidelity, Making Love, Masturbation, Mild Kink, Mild S&M, Oral Sex, Passion, Plot first then shameless smut, Professor Tom, Professor Tom Hiddleston, References to Shakespeare, Romance, Rough Sex, Secret Relationship, Sexual Experimentation, Sexual Fantasy, Shakespeare Quotations, Shakespearean Sonnets, Smut, Teacher-Student Relationship, True Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-01-23 19:40:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 128,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1577174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoddessofMischief2014/pseuds/GoddessofMischief2014
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Lucy leaves the cookie cutter life of success that her parents have created for her in order to finish her degree abroad, she ends up falling into a scandalous situation that she hadn't been prepared for, created by the hands of her breathtakingly handsome literature professor.  She immediately becomes lost in a world of lust, love and lessons that she so desperately wants to learn, but that scare her more than anything she's ever known.  Will she step out of her life of safety and sophistication in order to tackle the assignments that he gives to her?  If it all ends, will she be able to escape with her heart in tact?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

         _“And yet,to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays.”_  
 _-William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream_

* * *

 

           When I first stepped off of Flight One Forty One destined for London in the fall of two thousand and twelve, my heart was running on empty and my bags were fully packed.  I was a secretly lonely twenty-four year old girl looking to complete my degree in a field that didn’t even truly interest me, and to also finally see my best friend from Harvard that I had desperately missed ever since she had left me just two years before.  I was a worn out seriously broken shell of a person who had been left composed of nothing more than exposed nerves and hidden insecurities that I fiercely attempted to hide, but even though I looked perfectly put together to everyone else around me, internally I was falling apart at an incredibly rapid rate.  I was a graduate student only twelve short months away from becoming an actual practicing attorney just like my father so happened to be, and I was also secretly terrified out of my mind that I was making a gigantic mistake in continuing on the predetermined path that had been so carefully created for me.  My life had been wrapped up in a beautifully expensive satin bow ever since I had been a young child, and most recently had even become complete with a fiancé that I had nothing more in common with than what a banana had with chocolate milk.  I was on the road to great success and high social standing with confusion attempting to derail me at every possible turn, but even though I was absolutely mortified of the road that I was travelling on, I still continued moving forward at an incredibly fast pace. 

            Ever since I had been a little girl, I had been groomed for a life of great prosperity and had been told that when it came to matters of my academic performance or social standing, there was absolutely no room for error or even the slightest amount of unnecessary discussion.  My mother and father, who had met when they too had been attending Harvard back in the eighties, both had incredibly high profile careers and due to their exceptional achievements, expected and accepted only the best out of me as well.  My mother had graduated from Harvard’s very prestigious medical school with the grandest of honors a year earlier than even she had originally expected, and had then quickly gained a highly coveted medical directing position in one of the nation’s top facilities just shortly after finishing her residency.  My father on the other hand, was a highly successful defense attorney at the top of the Massachusetts Bar Association that he practically ran by the time that he was forty, and had become the head of his own law firm in the heart of the city just a year after first joining them.  My parents both worked seventy hour work weeks, had high social obligations, and definitely had little time for anything else in their incredibly busy lives that didn’t somewhat further their economic or social gains.  It was then, when they were on these fast tracked marathons that they called lives, that they taught me about issues that as a young girl confused me the most.  Issues such as hobbies, indulgences, and of course even…love.

            When I was about eight years old, I obtained my very first boyfriend and to be completely honest, at the time I believed that it was true love.  His name was Joseph and he was one of my classmates at the private school that I attended just about fifteen minutes away from my family’s home, and inside of my mind, I believed that he was truly the one.  The two of us held hands on the playground, passed notes to each other during math class, and even shared a few small kisses underneath an oak tree just a block away from our bus stop when we were certain that no one else was looking.  To us our love was very real even considering our young age, but to my mother no matter how innocent our courtship might have been, she saw it as trouble yet to come.  One day when I returned home from school, she was waiting for me in the kitchen with a plate of cookies and some milk sitting just in front of her incredibly rigid form.  So many things were wrong with what I saw when I sat down at the table in front of her, but I reluctantly visited with her regardless of my suspicions.  My mother quickly began to explain to me that she thought that I should stop spending so much time with Joseph and that she believed that I was beginning to hurt my grades with our relationship.  I argued with her that nothing had changed regarding my academics, but she insisted that Joseph and I part ways just the same.  She reminded me that I was still too young to have a boyfriend, and that relationships at any age could cause many problems that I simply just did not yet understand.  I remember crying when she told me that I could no longer spend time with the boy that I was so certain that I loved, and her answer to my heartbreak was something that I will always remember, but desperately wish that I could forget.  She set down the coffee that she had been sipping ever since I had first entered the room, and then she said the words that to this day still somewhat haunt even my fully developed adult mind.  She told me that love was an illusion that the heart created as a distraction from reality, and that crying over something as unpredictable as an emotion was simply a weakness that I should never allow myself to succumb to.   My mother’s words had been harsh and definitely shaped the way that I looked at the relationships all around me, but there was one thing about what my mother had said to me all those years ago that I actually still believed to be absolutely true.  Love most certainly was a distraction from the reality that we had been forced to live in, but in my mind, it was the only distraction that actually mattered.

            However, for many years, I actually listened very soundly to the advice that my mother had given to me as a young girl at our small kitchen table.  All throughout my years in grade school and high school, I never chased after anything harder for me to catch than a decent grade or an academic accolade that I believed that I deserved, and I desperately attempted to avoid the opposite sex as if they had contracted the plague.  I followed all of the rules that my parents had set out for me, and by the time that I graduated from high school at the age of eighteen, I was a very decorated valedictorian that was on my way to Harvard.  It turned out that even though my mother had been harsh when she had deterred me from love at such a young and impressionable age, she had actually been right about it being a distraction from other things.  Even though I felt as if I was missing out on something that my friends seemed to be getting in on, I was flying high academically and achieving the kind of success that my family had always dreamed of.  Love couldn’t have possibly been more important or satisfying than being one of the most intelligent and successful people in my graduating class.  Or at least so I thought.

            As soon as I ventured off to college, my life quickly began to change from the incredibly polished path that my parents had once created for me, but that didn’t exactly mean that it had gotten any better.  Without me being at home as a constant reminder of the responsibilities that my parents apparently had to one another, their marriage began to fall apart even faster than the Berlin Wall.  They began fighting constantly and distancing from each other even further than they already had before, and by the time that the end of my freshman year finally rolled around, news eventually broke that my father had been having an affair.  Shortly after that, my father moved out of the house that we had all shared ever since I had been an infant and then without a single tear being shed, my mother filed for a very quick and painless divorce in which she took nearly everything he had, and never even appeared to question turning back.  Her complete ambivalence to the ending of her twenty-seven years of marriage only cemented the facts that I had already accepted years before even further into my brain.  Love was a completely useless step that some people took in their lives, and it was a step that I wanted absolutely no part of.  And so, after years of drama that unexpectedly followed my parents seemingly “painless” divorce, I finally decided that I to, needed a change.

            After a lifetime of following all of the rules and going to all of the schools that my parents approved of, I finally found myself stepping off of a plane in London all by myself, and making the first unpredicted move in my life that my family had not fully backed.  I had spent six years in the comfort of Harvard where I knew that I would definitely succeed, and after all of that progress, I had decided to take my chances in a whole other country.  I had picked up everything that I thought was important to keep, and I had moved to England to study at Cambridge and finally finish the law degree that I had promised so many years before that I would in fact complete.  It just so happened that Harvard and Cambridge had a cooperative study program in which qualified students could choose to study abroad if they felt so moved, and after all of the unnecessary drama that had been going on in my life, I figured that maybe a change of place would be a very good idea.  It also helped that my best friend from undergraduate school just so happened to live in England and was attending Cambridge for her very own graduate degree in business, but I had told myself that my loneliness wasn’t what was truly drawing me there, but instead the once in a lifetime experience that I would gain being given such an amazing opportunity.

            I would love to continue the story that I am about to share in the same way that my mother would do it if this soul shattering experience would have happened to her, but being the person that I am, I simply cannot.  I would love to say that I went to England to continue my studies, that I had a brief affair with a man that I now realize would have only slowed me down in the end, and that I now am a stronger person for it as I happily return to what I realize to be my intended life.  I would love to say that I am happy in the decisions that I have made, that I am thankful for the values that my parents have instilled in me, and that I do not deeply regret the most recent choice that I was forced to make.  I would love to say all of that, but unfortunately I can’t.  Instead, I will say this.  I went to England to continue my studies, I fell in love with a man who awakened a part of me that I assumed to be dead or to have never even existed at all, and I now realize that love is the only distraction for me that has ever truly mattered.  I am ashamed of the decisions that I have made, disappointed in my parents for the false values that they pushed upon me, and I hate the person that I have let myself become even after what that man gave to me knowing that he might get absolutely nothing in return.  I long for the nights that I laid in his bed tangled in his beautiful mess of warm limbs and addictive skin, and I would give anything to undo the heartbreak that I have caused him.  I would kill to feel his skin pressed against mine as he moved inside of me a slave to his own desire, and I would sacrifice every meaningless accolade that I have ever received in order to beg him for his touch just one more time in the middle of one more night.  I would love to say that leaving him wasn’t the biggest mistake that I have ever made in my life…but it was.

            “Lucy?”  I heard my mother ask suddenly as her voice broke violently into my thoughts, and immediately jarred me back into the reality that I had almost actually forgotten that I was living in.

            “Yes?”  I choked out weakly as I looked out over the small crowded space around me, and took in the other hundred faceless people surrounding me on the medium sized commercial aircraft that I had quite literally been unwillingly forced upon only a few minutes before.

            “I want you to take this.  It will help with your nerves.”  My mother continued as she held out a small pink pill in the palm of her long thin hand, and then nodded carefully toward me signifying that it was okay.  I swallowed thickly as I stared down at the pill in front of me as if it were deadly poison and then slowly shook my head.

            “Nerves are not my problem, Mother.  Thank you for the offer, but I will be fine.”  I said as I turned my head back toward the small reinforced window just to the right side of my seat, and then carefully stared out into the distance of London’s constantly bustling beautiful downtown.  My mother sighed heavily from beside me in what sounded like deep annoyance.

            “This is an eight hour flight, Lucy.  I would much rather not watch you shake the entire time.”  She said with a chill in her voice as she leaned slightly closer toward me, and then pushed her hand forcefully against the side of my left shoulder.  I released a small breath as I shrugged my body slightly away from her touch, and then paused for a moment before I finally spoke once again.

            “Then I suggest that you look away.”  I whispered slowly as I wrapped my arms tightly around my body, and then focused in on the bright orange early morning English sun that had just began to finally come up.  The sunrise had always seemed much different in England than anywhere else that I had ever been in the world, and it took my breath away every time that I had been lucky enough to ever witness it. 

            “Don’t act like this, Lucy.  You are behaving like a child.  I am your mother and I know what is best for you.  Staying here with a man that you have a simple infatuation with and giving up on everything that you have worked so hard for would be the biggest mistake of your life.  I am saving you from yourself, Lucy.  You will thank me in the end.”  My mother continued as I felt her relax back against her seat, and then stretch her arms out over the hand rest just between us.  My jaw tightened immediately at her words and I couldn’t help but turn quickly in her direction as rage flooded through my system.

            “It is not an infatuation, Mother.  And, trust me, I will never thank you.  You have no idea who he is or how I feel about him so please do not act like you do.”  I seethed from between my teeth as I felt tears beginning to burn in my eyes, and my heart beginning to pound against the already trembling walls of my chest.  My mother narrowed her gaze at me as her brown eyes seemed too darken just slightly at my incredibly disrespectful tone.

            “Do you honestly think that he truly loves you, Lucy?  That he will understand why you cannot be home with him every night because you have work that you have to get done?  That he will not resent you when more important things than him come up?  Do you think that he loves you enough to deal with all of that and not leave you when things get too hard?”  She asked me in a tense tone as she slowly turned her body toward me and then immediately tightened her jaw.  For the first time, I saw a pain in my mother’s eyes and suddenly I knew that she was no longer talking about me, but about her and my father instead.

            “God!  How is everything about work with you?  Have you never wanted anything more than you wanted your career?  Have you never found something that was more important than getting ahead?  I know that he loves me, Mother.  And, I know that I love him because nothing would ever be more important to me than him.  Not work, not school, nothing!  Nothing is more important!  He will always be more important!”  I yelled as tears finally began to roll down my face, and my body began to shake even more violently around me than it had before.  That was when it happened.  That was when I finally realized what I should have known all along.  This was all my fault.  My mother could not force me to leave, I was a grown woman.  Yes, she wanted me to leave, but I had went with her because I was scared.  I was scared because I did love him, and I was scared because he _was_ more important.  He was more important than anything had ever been to me, and that terrified me more than anything that I had ever experienced before in my entire young life.

            “I can’t do this.”  I said through my tears as I quickly ripped the seatbelt from my lap, and then pushed myself up from my spot by the window with such force that I knocked my head on the overhead light.

            “Lucy, what are you doing?  Sit down this instant!”  My mother said as she looked up at me with wide eyes, and then began undoing her seatbelt nearly as quickly as I had.  I shook my head as I quickly began pushing past her leaving my purse on the ground beside my seat, and moving toward the center aisle as fast as I possibly could. 

            My mind raced as I began running down the only walkway that the aircraft that I was supposed to be departing on actually had, and my heart pounded so loudly inside of my chest that I could barely hear the commotion around me of the other passengers that had suddenly noticed my obvious nervous breakdown.  My mother screamed at me from our row where she still remained, but I ignored her words as I finally made my way to the door that I had entered in only about fifteen minutes before.  I swallowed thickly as I finally stopped in front of the aircraft’s only proper exit, and then I desperately attempted to control my fear as I immediately noticed that the door was now completely closed.

            “Miss?  Miss, I am going to have to ask you to return to your seat we are about to take off.”  A tall, thin, and very busty blonde flight attendant said to me in a kind, but slightly nervous voice as she approached me from behind and then put her small hand gently on the top of my shoulder.

            “No, I need to get off the plane!  I need to get off, it’s important.”  I yelled shakily as I pushed on the locked door in front of me and then felt the fresh burn of new tears beginning to well up in my emerald eyes.  The flight attendant sighed from behind me as if my request was the greatest annoyance that she had experienced all day, and then she tightened her grip on my now violently shaking frame.

            “Miss, I am sorry, but I cannot open the door.  The captain has turned on the seatbelt sign and we are about ready to take off.  I am going to have to ask you again to return to your seat.”  She said in a slightly stronger voice as she took yet another step closer toward me, and then began to pull back slightly on my shoulder that she still tightly held.  I quickly ripped my body away from her grip as I felt the tears beginning to roll down my face and my heart beginning to shatter painfully inside of my chest.   _I had to get off of this plane….I had to._

            “I just need off the plane.”  I cried as I pounded on the door once again, but it was no use.  I quickly felt myself being pulled back slightly by the hands of what I imagined to now be both my mother and the flight attendant who had originally attempted to be nice in order to get me to finally return to my seat, but who had now obviously finally given up in her effort.  This couldn’t be happening, this had to be a dream.  How could I have ever thought that I could leave him? How had I even gotten myself into this mess?  How had things gotten so completely out of control?

 

 

 

           


	2. Chapter 2

_“For which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?”_

_―_ _William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing_

* * *

**_What Feels Like A Lifetime Ago…._ **

                There have been very few truly defining moments in my life that I am certain that I will remember until the day that I die, but the moment when I finally realized that I did not in fact believe that true love actually existed, well that is definitely a moment that I will never be able to forget.  The memory is still so clear to me even as I think back to it now, that I can still smell the stale stench of burnt coffee lingering in the air around me, and I can even somehow still taste the flavor of my three hour old gum tickling against the flesh of my tongue.  There I was, just barely twenty-four years old standing in the center of the JFK International Airport only an hour before my plane to England was due to finally board, and there I was staring blankly back at my fiancé who had the unmitigated audacity to be playing a game on his god forsaken phone.  The minutes ticked by like hours as I glared daggers at him in a silent attempt to raise his attention back to me and the very real fact that I was just a little over sixty minutes away from being gone for the entirety of a fucking year, but no matter how hard I quietly gawked at him, he honestly didn't even seem to notice that I was in fact still there.  Finally, after about fifteen minutes of indulging in my usual completely useless passive aggressive behavior, I eventually cleared my throat and decided to address the elephant that was practically stomping around the vast terminal in which we so silently stood together.

                “Well, I hope that your case goes well this week.  Did you finish going through all of those depositions that you needed to for the trial?”  I asked as I watched the man in front of me nod slightly in my direction without looking up, and then hit yet another button on his stupid (and slightly outdated) Blackberry phone. 

                “Yeah, Luce. I finished them last night after you went to sleep.  I'm sure court will be fine though, well, as long as I don't get fucking Emerson.”  My utterly eloquent fiancé, Ethan, answered quickly without looking up from his phone yet again.  My blood immediately began to boil deep inside of my veins at the sheer ambivalence of the man standing in front of me, but as usual, I did not allow myself to explode in anger no matter how much I actually believed that I had the right to do so in such an infuriating situation.

                “My dad said that Emerson's been caught up in some IRS lawsuit ever since, like, July.  I think you'll be good as far as he is concerned at least.”  I answered quickly regarding one of the most infuriating judges in the entire New York City Metropolitan Area Legal System that every criminal feared, and every lawyer hated.  Ethan nodded at my intended reassuring statement as he continued watching the absolutely thrilling display on his small screen, and once again, he appeared completely uninterested in the fact that I just so happened to still be standing in his presence.

                “Well, that's good, I suppose.  What time do you have to be at your gate anyway?  The security line is probably like a mile long, and they say that if you're flying internationally you need to allow a lot more time.”  He said as he finally released an exhausted breath, and then miraculously lifted his eyes up toward mine.  I swallowed thickly as I felt anxiety, fear, and a whirlwind of other emotions that I honestly didn’t want to even begin to deal with begin to bubble up inside of me at the final mention of me actually having to board my plane.

                “Um...my flight leaves at seven-ten, so that is just like a little over an hour away.  I can probably stay for another couple of minutes or so though.”  I said as I bit down on the slightly chapped flesh of my bottom lip, and then silently prayed that Ethan would ask me to stay for as long as I could given the time that we were about to have to spend apart.

                “I wouldn't chance it, Luce.   That ticket cost you a shit load of money.  You don't want to miss your flight, and then have to figure out how to get on another one after not working for most of the summer.  Better to be safe than sorry.”  He reasoned, quickly crushing the idiotically romantic fantasy that I had dreamed up inside of my head, and subsequently immediately returning me down to my reality there on earth where it felt as if I was hopelessly stranded.  _Stupid reality._

                “You're probably right.  Well, I should get in around three o'clock this afternoon your time, which is about eight o'clock London time.  I'll call you once I'm situated and everything, though.”  I started to slightly ramble as I finally caught Ethan's dark brown eyes with mine, and then smiled gently in an attempt to actually keep his attention for as long as I possibly could.   _Why was I being such a sap just because I was leaving for a year?  Was I PMS’ing already?_

                “Sounds good, Luce.  Do you have your passport and all that other shit that Emma called you a thousand fucking times to remind you that you needed to have?  Seriously, I thought British people were supposed to have refined manners and etiquette or something.  Where the hell were all her manners when she was calling at twelve o'clock at night on a fucking Monday?”  Ethan complained as he roughly shoved his Blackberry back into his dress pants pocket where he had originally retrieved it from nearly an hour before, and then straightened his sport coat jacket in an overly formal sort of way immediately thereafter.  I sighed as I bit back the long strand of curse words that I wanted to scream at my fiancé due his incredibly rude comment toward one of the closest friend's that I had in the entire world, but once again, I swallowed my anger as quickly as I could.  The middle of a busy New York airport was not the time or the place to have an ugly domestic display, or in my special case, any kind of display at all for that matter.

                “Emma was just trying to be helpful, Ethan, you should really cut her some slack.  Besides, if she wouldn't have called so much, I probably would have forgotten something really important and then been screwed once I finally got there.  She had good intentions.  She always has good intentions.”  I defended as I adjusted my knap sack that hung over one of my slightly aching slender shoulders, and then ran my fingers through the somewhat tangled mess of my long wavy sandy blonde colored hair.  Ethan shrugged as he very indiscreetly rolled his dark eyes.

                “Lots of people say they have good intentions, Luce.  Catholic priests say they have good intentions.”  He said as he laughed quietly to himself, and then eventually returned his eyes to mine.  I sighed as I ignored his ill thought out attempt at a joke, and then gripped my tickets slightly tighter in my left hand.

                “Yes, you have mentioned that before.  Well, I should probably get going then.  Don't forget that my mom is stopping by tomorrow to pick up my keys to her place, and she will more than likely expect to be invited in.”  I said with a small humorless laugh as I imagined my mother and Ethan's exchange going on without me, and how truly awkward that would most likely be.  The two of them had nearly identical personalities right down to almost every single straight laced idea that floated through their incredibly narrow minded heads, but for some reason they could never seem to learn how to properly interact with each other in any non- academic related situations.  It was as if God had given them both all of the intelligence that the heavens could supply, but yet not enough social skills to even share between the two of them.  My mother and Ethan’s relationship had always been one that had truly baffled me, and if I was being completely honest, I was relieved that I got to finally take a much needed break from its confusion.

                “Yeah, don't worry, I'll take care of it.  I hope you have a good trip, and I hope that Emma isn't too distracted with whatever guy she’s dating this month that she forgets to pick you up from the airport.”  Ethan joked as he took a step closer toward where I stood.  I nodded as I quickly dismissed yet another of his insults toward my friend, and instead focused in on the fact that I was leaving the east coast for the first time in my entire life without someone else's helping hand or protective eye.

                “She won't forget, Ethan.  Um...good luck on your case...love you.”  I stuttered out uneasily, and the way that it seemed almost forced to say those last few words out loud, well that should have been my giant red flagged hint that something about my romantic relationship just didn't quite click, but unfortunately in that moment it honestly wasn't.  _Because honestly, this was just how it had always been._

                “I don't need luck, Luce, I'm a Lancaster.”  Ethan answered with his usual sarcastic grin as he quickly put his arm around me, and then hugged me tightly against his left side.  I leaned into his hug just enough to take in the scent of his slightly strong smelling cologne that was practically radiating from nearly everywhere on his person, and then I slowly closed my already tired emerald eyes just one last time in his presence.  _Everything is going to be okay, Lucy.  Everything is going to be okay._

“When you're right, you're right.  I'll call you when I get in.”  I said after I hesitantly pulled away from Ethan's embrace, and then eventually looked back up into his dark brown eyes.  I stared up at him as I waited for him to possibly return my declaration of affection that he only usually seemed to express during federally recognized holidays, but instead he just smiled as he peered down at me with a slightly sarcastic expression on his broad slightly squared masculine face.

                “Good luck at Cambridge, Luce.  Don't let any of those limp wristed tea suckers over there give you any shit.”  He said as he slightly widened his smile, and then leaned down and gave me a quick goodbye kiss... _on my forehead_.

                And, that was the moment.  That was the exact moment in both space and time, when I finally came to the conclusion that love just had to be a complete crock of shit, and that my mother had unfortunately always been correct in her beliefs on said topic that she had preached to me about nearly every day of my entire life since I had been a toddler.  It now seemed that love had in fact just always been a carefully constructed illusion that sad lonely people clung to in one of their many desperate attempts at proving that there was more to life than material goods, and that the above expressed emotion was simply fiction that was just being read to us during our incredibly mundane non-fiction themed lives.  The love that had always been portrayed to me in the hundreds of romantic comedies that Emma had forced me to watch weekend after weekend as an undergrad had been filled with complete and total falsehoods, and the moving goodbye scenes that I had secretly always cried during were nothing more than scripted drivel used to lure in even more lovesick movie goers.  The dream that I had always privately clung to suddenly seemed to lose all meaning in the blink of an eye, and my loss of faith felt as if it was now quickly eating me from the inside out.  It turned out that true love had in fact always just been an idiotic Hallmark created fantasy, and I had for some reason believed it even though nearly everyone around me had told me not to.  Now, because I had believed said lie so naively, I had just made a fool out of myself in front of my fiancé by expressing affections which he of course did not (and most like would not ever) honestly return.   _Way to look like a grown up, Lucy._

                So, feeling completely embarrassed and sick with myself for having acted like the lead character in a poorly plotted angst ridden romance novel, I hastily made a few decisions then and there that I will also never forget, mostly likely also for the rest of my life.  I decided that I would spend my time in England focusing diligently on my studies, and also on spending time with my dearest friend who I had so few opportunities to actually see, and that I would put all of my recently discovered petty emotions completely out of my frustrated mind.  I promised myself that I would finally take a page from my mother's book, and that I would forget my secret dreams of a romantic fairytale, and in turn I would end up with the successful life that she had always planned out for me.  I made a lot of quick promises and a lot of hasty decisions as I stood there in that airport on that late summer's morning just before getting onto my very overcrowded international commercial flight destined for a country in which I had never before been.   Looking back at it now, all of those decisions and promises that I made seem almost comical to me in a very twisted sort of way.  _A very VERY twisted sort of way._

               

* * *

 

                  The silence of the nearly empty airport terminal surrounding me was almost deafening as I took a very timid step away from the gate where my plane from New York had just finally landed only a few moments before, and then moved hesitantly closer toward the baggage claim station, where I had been assured by both phone call and text that Emma would most definitely be waiting for me.  The few travelers that did still occupy the main expanse of London’s Heathrow International airport all appeared tired and worn out as they moved past me carrying their belongings like gypsies moving aimlessly through the night, and the waiting area that surrounded the impressive baggage claim was unfortunately still completely void of any familiar faces no matter how desperately I continued to search it.  Finally, after nearly ten minutes of looking for my friend without any success or reason for hope, I eventually gave up in my silent endeavor and surrendered to my exhaustion with a heavy sigh of defeat.  Carefully, I pushed one of my hands deep into my jeans pocket in search of my phone that I prayed actually still had at least a small amount of service, but just as I did, I finally heard a blissfully recognizable voice that I had not heard in person in far too long.

                “Two years later, and still with that mess that you call hair.”  A soft perpetually happy voice called from just a few feet behind me, immediately causing me to turn around, and then to finally take in the face that I had been so anxiously longing to see.

                “Cut me some slack, Emma.  My flight wasn't exactly short.”  I said as I shrugged my aching shoulders slightly, and then pushed a handful of my sandy waves just slightly away from my exhausted face.  Emma smiled as she smoothed her hands out over her canary yellow colored knee length dress, and then opened her arms out toward me widely.

                “I was only making a bit of a joke, love.  Now bring that pretty little arse of yours over here, and give us a hug.”  She said in her sweet, and slightly diluted British accent just as her smile widened nearly taking over the entire expanse of her beautiful cherub shaped face.   I nodded as I smiled almost instinctively, and then dropped my litany of mismatched bags down to the floor beneath my feet.   I laughed excitedly as I ran toward my friend that I had missed so greatly, and then finally sighed once I was happily hugging her tightly in my arms.

                “It's so good to see you again, Emma.  You look fantastic.”  I said as I finally released my arms from around my friend, and then took a step back in order to fully take in her long pin straight golden blonde hair, and her beautiful doe shaped crystal blue eyes. 

                “You look amazing as well, Lucy, but I can’t lie and say that you don’t look tired.  I told you that New York City was a bad choice for a summer vacation, but of course, you didn't listen to me.  I mean, how in the bloody hell are you going to relax in a city filled with such incredibly depressing overworked people?  You should have come to Italy with me instead.  It was such fun.”  Emma rambled with a warm smile as she stood staring at me with our hands still intertwined, and a knowing look spread out over her face.  I released a breath as I slowly dropped my friend’s fingers from my grasp, and then reached down and slowly began retrieving my earlier dropped bags.

                “Well, New York is where Ethan lives, and where I will be living after I finally finish school this year.  I figured that I should probably get used to it sooner rather than later.  Besides, unlike some people, I don't exactly always have the money to just jet off to Italy.”  I said referring to my dear friend’s very large bank account thanks to both her very financially successful family, and also her very particular taste in men.  Emma sighed as she reached down and picked up a few of my bags herself, and then nodded behind me toward the airport terminal’s main sliding doors.

                “That’s great and all, but is New York really where you want to live?  A city filled with angry people, crawling with disease infected rodents, and covered in more pollution than most of the other states in your country combined?  Is that really where you want to spend your life, Lucy?”  She asked as the two of us began walking toward the exit that would lead us to the airport’s parking lot, and thankfully away from my day of exhausting travel and painful emotional epiphanies.  I released a sigh as I contemplated begging Emma to change the subject, but unfortunately I knew her far better than to believe that she would agree to something like that on such an incredibly controversial topic.

                “Just because Ethan is working for this firm now, doesn’t mean that he will be working there forever.  We just have to make it through the next five years, which is what he agreed to in his contract, and then we can go anywhere we want.  I’m pretty sure that I can handle New York for that long.  I mean technically I have been living between there and Boston ever since my mom moved there two years ago, anyway, so I don't think it will be that big of a deal.  It's really not as bad as you think it is, Emma.”  I said referring to the city that I actually had slightly grown tired of especially in the past few months, and also the small law firm that had most recently began making decisions regarding both Ethan’s and my life as I forced a smile onto my face just before we finally stepped out into the heady late summer air.

                “All I am saying, is that you should have a say in the life that you two are planning to share just as much as he does.  If you don’t want to live in New York, well then you shouldn’t have to live in New York.”  Emma continued as her eyes widened slightly and her hands lifted dramatically into the air above her, signaling to me, that she was finally finished making her elaborate point.  I nodded as I finally decided to give up in the unwinnable battle that I had been fighting, and instead simply resign myself to appeasing my very outspoken friend.

                “Yes, Emma.”  I said with a smile as we finally reached her breathtakingly beautiful royal blue sports car, and then began loading my things into its incredibly tiny back seat.  Emma smiled as she reached out and gently touched my shoulder just as soon as we had finally finished in our seemingly arduous task.

                “Look, Lucy.  I'm really sorry if I upset you, but you know that I just want you to be happy.  I promise that there will be no more Ethan talk for tonight from my lips, alright?  From here on out, I am on my best behavior.”  She said with a soft smile as she shut the door to her backseat, and then moved around to her car's driver's side.  I smiled as I nodded accepting my friend’s apology immediately, just as I always had, and then I released a breath of my withheld tension.  Ethan and Emma had never gotten along ever since the first day that they had met when she and I had been lowly sophomores, and Ethan had been a prestigious junior.  Emma had never been the kind of person that enjoyed people that believed in all work and no play like my boyfriend at the time seemed so strictly with which to agree, and Ethan had never really been the kind of person...well that truly enjoyed other people.

                “Thanks, Emma.  How about we just forget this whole conversation and go back to the apartment and get some sleep?  How far away is the place you are renting from here, anyway?”  I asked as I climbed into the passenger side of Emma’s car just after she had gotten in.  There was a brief silence and then just as Emma turned on the ignition, she slowly turned back toward me.

                “About that, Lucy.  Umm…we kinda need to talk.”  She said carefully as she pulled quickly out of the massive airport parking lot, and then began moving onto one of London’s still slightly busy side streets.  I swallowed thickly as I immediately felt my nerves come to life at my friend’s unusually guarded reaction, and then hesitantly turned to my right side.

                “Oh no, I don’t like the sound of this, Emma.  What happened?”  I asked carefully as I stared at my friend hoping that my fears of her somehow losing the lease on our apartment would be completely unfounded.

                “Well, do you remember how I told you that when I first moved into the flat a few months ago, I let a girl stay with me that needed a place to go just until the summer was over?”  Emma asked as she bit down carefully on her lip gloss covered bottom lip.  I nodded slowly as I recalled the conversation that Emma and I had just before last semester had ended when she had met a girl at a pub, and taken pity on her in her apparently homeless state.

                “Yes, I remember.  Ashley, that was her name right?”  I asked carefully waiting for the bomb to drop that I knew was rapidly approaching.  Emma carefully nodded as she turned her car onto another slightly less busy side street, and then tightened her grip on her tattered leather steering wheel.

                “Yes.  Well, _Ashley,_ wasn’t exactly the perfect flat mate that she originally explained herself to be.  After only a month of living with me she nearly flooded the place twice, and then just before she was due to move out, she threw a huge party that gained the attention of the cops.  As soon as the landlord found out that the police had been called to what he explained was a ‘family establishment’ he decided to end our lease and evict us both as punishment for _her_ fuck up.”  She explained as she bit down on her lip even harder than she had before, and then looked at me out of the corner of one of her beautiful crystal blue eyes.  I swallowed as I folded my hands together tightly in my lap, and then nodded my head slowly just before finally clearing my throat.

                “So, what happened after you got evicted?  Where have you been living, Emma?  Where are _we_ supposed to be living?”  I asked carefully as I made sure to keep a handle on my voice and not scream at my friend for being so idiotic as to let a complete stranger get her kicked out of her own apartment.  Emma smiled as her expression slightly brightened and her fingers began to loosen just slightly in their place.

                “Well, actually I found a much better place to live.  It’s much roomier than my old flat and it’s even closer to campus.”  She chirped happily as she nodded in my direction.  I smiled as I immediately perked up and quickly scolded myself for my earlier harsh thoughts toward my friend.

                “Really?  You found us another apartment that quickly?”  I asked wondering how she had done so well on such short notice.  Emma shrugged her shoulders as she held her bright smile, and then slightly narrowed her eyes.

                “Not exactly.  I didn’t find us an apartment.  I found us a house.”  She said as she made another turn in the darkness and then immediately increased her speed.  My eyes widened in surprise.

                “You got us a house?  How did you get a house?  How can we afford a house?”  I asked getting both excited and nervous all at the same time.  Emma smiled as she dropped her shoulders back slightly, and then perked up her head.

                “I got it because I’m awesome, and we can afford it because it is completely rent free.”  She boasted as I stared at her in complete confusion from the confines of my seat.  That was when the excitement inside of me slightly faltered, and when my distrust immediately swooped in.

                “You got us a house, only a few weeks before I arrived, and it’s completely rent free?  That’s impossible, Emma.  What is going on?  Are we moving in with one of your parents?”  I asked remembering once again that both of Emma’s parents were actually quite wealthy, and that if she had fallen on hard times, one of them had most likely been the ones there to help pick her up.  Emma quickly shook her head, giving me the much needed relief that I so desperately craved in that moment.

                “No we are not living with either one of my lovely parents, Lucy.  We are living with my brother.”  She said almost too fast for me to even completely understand what she had said.  There was another brief silence as I attempted to mentally put together the entirety of Emma’s family tree that I had once briefly heard about, and then I finally decided to speak up once again.

                “Your brother?”  I asked carefully.  Emma nodded as I could tell that she was incredibly nervous about my current reaction to her unexpected news.

                “Yes, you remember me telling you about my brother, Lucy.  He’s super smart, was living in London for quite some time, but then eventually got tired of it and moved to the suburbs.  Well, it just so happens that those suburbs are like two minutes away from Cambridge, and he has a four bedroom house there that he is barely able to use.  He works all day and practically crashes at night, and he is one of the nicest guys that you will ever meet.  He is very good with new people, and as long as we don’t trash his house, he is fine with us living there for as long as we need.”  She explained as she smiled obviously attempting to get me to become as excited about all of this as she was.  I slowly nodded my head as I took in all of the new information that had just been given to me.

                “And, he doesn’t want us to pay any rent?”  I asked finding it hard to believe that a grown man who was agreeing to share his house with his sister and her best friend, didn’t want any monetary compensation in return for his being so generous.  Emma shook her head.

                “No, all he asked was that we help keep food in the fridge and don’t have parties during the week.  Other than that, he is fine with the arrangement.  He’s owned the house for years anyway, so it isn’t like he is worried about paying the bills.”  She said as she waved her hand carelessly in the air above her head, and then released a breath into the silence.  I nodded as I felt my anxiety continue to rise at the thought of living with a man that I did not know, and who sounded far more responsible than I had even ever hoped to be.

                “How old is your brother, anyway, Emma?  I remember you talking about him at Harvard, but I can't remember if you ever mentioned his age.”  I asked carefully attempting to gather any more information than I currently had (which was pretty much none) regarding the owner of what would apparently be my temporary home.  Emma nodded.

                “He’s older than us.  He just turned thirty-three in February, but I swear sometimes he still acts like he’s eighteen.”  She said with a laugh as she appeared to be remembering something funny that I was completely oblivious to.  I nodded as I faked a smile and released another incredibly nervous breath.

                “Well this is certainly very kind of your brother, Emma.  I am very grateful to both of you.”  I said as I finally relaxed back in my seat and diligently reminded myself that everything would in fact be okay.

                The remainder of the car ride to Emma’s brother’s home was fairly quiet, and it was also filled with a heavy tension that I was certain was radiating solely from me.  I had never been the greatest at meeting new people, and the fact that I was also currently dealing with leaving the comfort of the east coast for the first time in my entire life, well that wasn’t helping my stress factor either.  For twenty-four years I had lived between Boston and New York City, and for twenty-four years I had been comfortably miserable at doing just that.  My secret unhappiness had been one of the main reasons that I had taken advantage of the cooperative study program that Harvard had offered to me the semester before, but no matter how much leaving my home truly scared me, the opportunity that I had been given seemed nearly impossible to simply pass by.  Yes, living with a stranger in a country that I had never been in before would most likely be slightly nerve wrecking, but remaining in New York and living with my mother and fiancé, well that would have been nerve crushing to say very the least.

                “We’re here, love.”  Emma finally said happily as she jarred me from my inner ramblings and suddenly brought me back into the real world where it was now nearly twelve o’clock.  I scanned the area around me just as Emma pulled her car into a small freshly paved appearing driveway, and then I allowed my eyes to widen as I took in a very beautiful expansive appearing cobblestone house sitting before me.

                “This is where your brother lives?”  I asked carefully as I narrowed my eyes in order to inspect the space around me more thoroughly, and then widened them once again as I realized that I hadn’t been imagining the incredibly breathtaking home that I had first seen.

                “Yeah, he bought it a long time ago back when he thought he was going to get married, but then after that fizzled out, he just kind of lived in it by himself.  It’s beautiful, isn’t it?  I swear it’s even bigger than the house that we grew up in.”  Emma said with a laugh just after she switched the car out of gear, and then signaled for me to follow her out of the car.

                “Wow, I don’t think that Ethan will buy me a house even after we get married.  We'll probably just stay living in his apartment.  Anyway, what happened with your brother and him getting married?  How come everything fizzled out?”  I asked not ever remembering Emma telling me any stories about her brother’s love life (or to be completely honest, _any_ part of his life) during the time when she had been at Harvard living with me.

                “Well, the slag that he was engaged to was a real bitch, and when my brother told her that he wanted to move out of London to somewhere a little more quiet, she had a hissy fit to say the least.  She threatened him saying that she would leave him if he didn’t stay in the city where she wanted to be, and he told her that he didn’t want to marry someone that would give him such a manipulative ultimatum.  About a month after that, my brother moved here just like he had planned all along, and that little wench stayed in the city where she so adamantly claimed she wanted to be.”  Emma explained as we pulled my belongings out of the back seat of her car, and then carefully attempted not to trip over our own feet with it being so dark outside.  I pressed my lips together in a tight line as I thought about the story that Emma had just told me, and I pretended that I hadn’t been in a situation that was very similar recently, but instead of doing what her brother had done, completely caved in my reply.

                “That’s awfully strong of your brother.  A lot of people make a lot of huge sacrifices when it comes to love.”  I said in a slightly bitter tone as I silently battled with the unfortunate discoveries that I had made earlier in the day, while also still remembering the idiotic romantic love stories that I had always secretly watched on TV.

                “Making a sacrifice is something that my brother would have done in a heartbeat, Lucy.  He is one of the most diehard romantics that I have ever met, and had his ex actually been a decent human being and asked him if they could stay, well I am certain that we would not be moving in with him now.  Unfortunately, she tried to force her will on him instead, and that is just something that no one in my family will easily take.  We might have been raised with big hearts, but we weren’t raised with small minds.”  She said with a wink as she nodded toward the large red front door just a few steps away, and then began moving quickly toward it.  I nodded slowly as I fell in line behind her, and then after quickly shaking her words from my mind, I eventually followed her inside.

                When we finally reached the inside of Emma’s brother’s home, I immediately fell into a state of awe as I took in the slightly unusual space around me.  The two level house was generously furnished with beautiful and yet actually useable antique furniture, had a stone fireplace built into the wall in the downstairs’ main living room, and it was even complete with a freshly polished mahogany piano that sat just to the dining room’s right side.  Exquisite pieces of what appeared to be Greek and Italian art covered the walls surrounding me, and the smell of cinnamon hung heavy in the air as if someone had just pulled something delicious out of the oven.  The home was far different than any place that I had ever lived, as my parents had been more partial to minimalistic and incredibly modern decoration, and the home also appeared to be far homier than any place that I had even ever visited.  This was definitely better than a small apartment on the edge of Cambridge’s downtown, and it was also about seven hundred dollars cheaper.

                “It’s after midnight, Lucy.  Why don't I show you your room, so that we can actually get some sleep before tomorrow?  I can give you the rest of the tour once there is a little more daylight.”  Emma finally said with a smile as she nodded toward a staircase on the opposite side of the room, and then immediately began moving in its direction.

                “Your room is the first door here on the right, and my brother’s room is at the very end of the hall.  Don’t worry about waking him, he is a very sound sleeper, but he also gets up at the crack of dawn so if you hear noise before the sun comes up, it’s most likely him.”  Emma said with a smile as we finally reached what had been pointed out as my room after we had finally made our way upstairs,  and just before she reached out and carefully opened the door.

                “Thank you, Emma.  I really appreciate everything that you have done for me.  Well, actually, everything both you and your brother have done for me.”  I said as I smiled and took a careful step in through the doorway of what appeared to be an actually quite spacious bedroom.  Emma smiled at me as she nodded.

                “I would do it a million times over, Lucy.  I am just so happy that you are finally here.”  She said with a wide smile, and the glistening of tears just brimming her beautiful pale eyes.  I nodded as I smiled and reminded myself that now was definitely not the time nor the place to cry, and then quickly swallowed my own tears before they could reach the surface.

                “Anyway, there is a bathroom just to your left, and there is a cupboard out here in the hall that has towels and extra sheets.  If you need anything my bedroom is downstairs across from the study, and of course as I said, my brother is right down the hall.”  Emma said kindly as she nodded once again in the direction of her brother’s room, and then took a step backward toward the stairs.  I nodded as I mentally cataloged the information that she had just given to me, and then I released a tired breath.

                “Um...what time do we need to leave tomorrow morning?  My first lecture hall is at eight-fifteen.”  I said quickly changing the slightly emotional topic while also trying to catch Emma before she had made her way completely down the stairs.

                “We should probably leave here by seven-thirty in order to get a good parking spot.  My first class is around then as well, so I think forty-five minutes should give us plenty of time.”  She said with a smile as she stopped midway in her tracks.  I nodded as I moved back toward my bedroom.

                “Great, well sleep good, Emma.”  I said as I grabbed the doorknob beside me, and then took another step further inside of my new room.  Emma nodded.

                “Good night, Lucy.  Welcome to England.”  She said with a kindhearted smile.  I smiled in return as I released a breath filled with just the slightest bit of anxiety, and then I finally closed my door just as soon as she disappeared from my view.

                By the time that it had finally reached three o’clock in the morning, I unfortunately had come to the realization that I was not about to get any sleep, and that obsessing about it wouldn't do even the slightest bit of good.  I had tossed and turned on what I would have usually thought to be a very comfortable mattress as I fruitlessly attempted to fall asleep for nearly two hours, but no matter how hard that I tried, I was absolutely unable to find any rest.  Finally, by the time that it neared three-thirty, I eventually decided that I should at least attempt to be productive with my apparently sleepless night.  In the next two hours I unpacked all of my things, organized my knap sack for the day ahead of me, and even color coordinated all of my study supplies for easy accessibility.  I was quite certain that most other people would think that my appreciation for order was bordering on compulsive, but since I really didn't have anything else to do in the middle of the night on a Sunday, I really didn't care what most people might have thought of me.

               Finally, after I had finished nearly every task that I could think to give myself, it was nearing five o'clock, and I was feeling the beginnings of sheer exhaustion setting in.  Knowing that I would have to be up in just over an hour, I decided to simply lay down for a short nap to rest my mind, and I prayed that would be enough to get me through my first nerve wrecking Cambridge day.  As I was beginning to drift off to sleep, I heard the faint sound of water running from just a short distance down the hall, and the melody of pop music just beneath its relaxing tone.  I smiled as I imagined Emma's older brother listening to Rihanna while he got ready for his probably quite boring working class day, and then I allowed myself to snuggle down further into my sheets.  The smell of freshly fallen rain with the slightest hint of vanilla mixed in, invaded my senses just as my consciousness began to slip, and for some reason I found myself smiling for absolutely no reason at all.  There was just something about that scent mixed with the sheets that I laid in, and the atmosphere that the house around me provided that caused me to feel relaxed for the first time in a very long time.  I knew that the next day ahead of me would be trying especially since I wouldn't have had much sleep, but the peacefulness of the moment that was surrounding me, well that was good enough for me.

 

* * *

 

 

                “Lucy!  Lucy, what in the bloody hell are you doing still in bed?”  Emma’s frustrated voice suddenly yelled, unexpectedly breaking violently into the peacefulness that had so blissfully overtaken my mind what felt like only seconds before, and immediately brought me out of the deep sleep that I had unintentionally fallen into.

                “What time is it?”  I asked groggily as I rolled over slowly onto my side, and then rubbed my hands softly over my still quite exhausted face.  Emma sighed at my question as she rushed hurriedly into my room, and then threw open the curtains on my bed's once darkened opposite side without even the slightest warning to prepare me for the morning's extremely bright light.

                “It’s seven-twenty in the morning, Lucy.  You have about ten minutes to get ready unless you want to be late to your first day of class.  No rush though, darling, please take your time.”  She said quickly, not even attempting to hide her annoyance at my tardiness in the sarcasm that was practically dripping from her incredibly stressed sounding voice. 

                The second that my very angry appearing friend disappeared from the confines of my bedroom, reality finally crashed down on me, and revealed to me the severity of my current situation.  There I was sitting in my bedroom less than an hour before my first class was due to start, and there I was still wearing my slightly faded pajamas that my mother had given to me for Christmas three years before.  Suddenly, panic set in and in seconds I was jolted into motion.  In the matter of minutes I had run through the shower, thrown on an outfit that I prayed to God actually matched, and gathered all of my things that I hoped would get me through my day.  By seven-fifty I was running toward Emma’s shiny blue car, and preparing myself for the talking to that I was quite certain I was just about to get.

                “I’m so sorry, Emma.  It's just that I couldn’t get to sleep last night, and…”  I started as soon as I slid into Emma’s passenger seat and threw my bag down onto the floor beneath me while keeping ahold of my schedule in my now shaking right hand.  Emma shrugged as she thankfully smiled, and then quickly shifted her car into gear beside me.

                “It’s okay, love.  I'm sorry that I was kind of a bitch this morning, but unfortunately, I didn't really get much sleep last night either.  How about we haul ass this morning, and then tonight you can take me out to dinner to make up for being such a lazy bum?”  She asked in a much sweeter voice than she had used about twenty minutes before, and then smiled her usual smile as she winked in my direction.  I smiled as I silently thanked God that my friend wasn't still so angry with me, and then eagerly nodded my head.

                “Deal.”  I agreed happily and then I finally relaxed back in my seat praying that I would still make it to my first class on time, and that the start of my day, wasn't any indication of what the rest of it would be like.

                As soon as I arrived at Cambridge’s massive campus, I quickly realized, that the school was not what it had seemed to be in all their fancy advertisements.  When I had looked at the pictures online of the layout of the university, everything had seemed pretty easy and straight forward in its organization, but when I looked at it in person it seemed far more complicated than I had originally imagined.  While the core classes for the law students all seemed to all be clustered together in a few newly renovated appearing glass buildings on the campus's northern most side, all of the other buildings seemed quite unorganized and not very well labeled in order to at least attempt to help the newer students out in their endeavors.  My morning didn't begin too horribly as most of my courses were held in the pretty law buildings that had actually been quite easy to find, but by the time that afternoon rolled around and I had been unable to find anywhere to grab some lunch, I quickly realized that my last class of the day was on the campus's completely opposite southern side. 

                Running had never been one of my strong suits, however on the early afternoon of my first day of Cambridge, I found it an underdeveloped skill that was quite necessary in order for me to survive.  With my knap sack full of books, my feet clad in wedges that were meant for show and definitely not for performance, I moved as quickly as I could away from the portion of the campus that was dedicated to justice and truth, and made my way towards what I had been told were the buildings that contained the Faculty of English where my last class of the day was being held.  In all honesty, had I been given a choice in the matter I would have never even visited the southern side of campus during the entirety of my time at Cambridge, but unfortunately this one scheduling matter I had found to be completely out of my control.  When I had first enrolled in the Masters of Corporate Law Degree program at Cambridge, I had been under the impression that all of my core study work had been completed long before when I had been an undergrad, but I was quickly notified that I had in fact been wrong.  Apparently, I was missing an English credit that I was required to fulfill if I wanted to obtain my desired degree, and the only class that was available to me at the time of my enrollment was a class so vile to my brain that it pained me to even speak it out loud.  The kind elderly woman in the enrollment office had commented on how lucky I had been to get into a class that apparently was coveted by so many, but when she had notified me that it was a course involving Shakespeare, I couldn't even begin to imagine why.

                About five minutes after my class was due to start, I finally arrived on the front steps of the aged brick building that housed my day's most dreaded class.  I sighed as I quickly realized what a horrible impression I was about to make on my professor who undoubtedly would not appreciate my tardiness, but then climbed the steps before me regardless, as I quickly made my way inside before I gave myself the completely justifiable chance to change my mind.

                The large space surrounding me smelled of old dusty books as I carefully made my way down one of the literary building's empty hallways, and it appeared to be one of the oldest buildings on campus judging by the severe wear that covered nearly every single visible surface around me.  Classes were in progress on both sides of where I walked, and as I finally reached the door to room one fifty three, I realized that I would definitely be interrupting if I actually dared to enter it at that point in time.  My heart pounded inside of my chest as I imagined my ancient professor scowling at me for my obvious carelessness regarding my incredibly valuable (and expensive) education, and in that moment, I finally decided that I should just probably turn back so that I ended my day before it had the chance to get any worse.  Quickly, I turned on my heels in a rush of my own anxious emotions, and then suddenly, I accidentally discovered that I had not been alone in the hall as I had originally thought.

                “Oh, pardon me.”  I heard a deep melodic voice say as I immediately collided with a man’s chest hard enough to jolt my knap sack off of my shoulder, and my course schedule out of my hand.

                “Oh shit, I’m so sorry, I just…”  I said as I looked up and suddenly met a pair of ocean colored eyes that were staring back at me with both concern and confusion flooding them.  I swallowed as I took in the lean figure of the man towering above me with slightly wavy short copper colored hair dressed in a perfectly tailored brown suit, and smiling down widely in my direction.

                “Are you lost, darling?”  The man asked as he adjusted the dark brown leather satchel that he had hanging over his shoulder just before he carefully reached down and retrieved my knap sack and then kindly handed it back to me.  I shook my head as I took my bag from him quickly, and then anxiously cleared my throat.

                “Umm, thank you, and no I'm not lost.  Actually, I was just leaving.  I think I’m just going to start over fresh tomorrow.”  I said as I pushed a piece of my long wavy hair behind my ear, and then took a much needed step back away from the incredibly handsome stranger that I had so idiotically ran into just a few moments before.  The man smiled as he watched me.

                “Already so frazzled, and it’s only your first day?  What class are you so desperately trying to escape from?”  He asked as he crossed his arms over his chest causing the thin material of his suit to tighten around the expanse of his biceps showing muscle that had previously been hidden.  I swallowed thickly as I quickly dropped my eyes, and then silently scolded myself for being so immature.

                “It’s this one, here.  Shakespearean Literature, Room One Fifty-Three.  Sixty minutes a day of not understanding a damn word that my professor has to say.”  I said with a humorless laugh, and then took another step back moving closer toward the building’s main door.  The man in front of me nodded as he pressed his thin lips together into a fine line, and then casually shrugged his broad shoulders in response.

                “I gather that you are not a fan of Shakespeare?”  He asked carefully as he narrowed his beautiful eyes in my direction, and then squared his jaw slightly matching his stance.  I shook my head immediately.

                “I am not a fan of this entire building.  I am here to study law, not to write poetry.  I have absolutely no interest in literature, and definitely not in literature that I don’t understand.  Unfortunately, this was the only course in this section that had an opening when I signed up because somebody dropped out, and apparently I am missing an English requirement, so here I am.”  I said as I ran my fingers through my hair and mentally wondered where I was going to hide while I waited for Emma to be done with her last class before we could finally go home.  The stranger smiled as he nodded. 

                “Ah, well this is my next class as well and it appears that I am now also quite late.  How about you walk in behind me, and then the professor won’t see that you are sneaking in?”  He asked as he nodded toward the door ahead of me.  I released a breath being thankful for the man’s kindness, but regretful that I hadn’t made my escape while I had still had the chance.

                “That is awfully kind of you, thank you.  I didn’t see a name on my schedule, do you know this professor?  Is he nice?”  I asked as I took a step closer toward the door of my classroom just as the stranger reached out for the tarnished silver knob before me.

                “No, actually, he is said to be a bit of a dick.  He hates tardiness, is incredibly picky, and I heard that he gives more coursework than even the _real_ professors over in the law department.”  He said in a slightly sarcastic tone as his light eyes glistened with what appeared to be either amusement or excitement.  I nodded as I widened my eyes just as he began pulling open the door, and then I stepped behind him without even completely thinking about what he had just said or how he had just said it.

                “Good to know, thanks.” I said as I followed the man in front of me into the slightly crowded lecture hall, and then as soon as he moved toward an empty spot in the front of the room, I darted toward the room’s back right side.  I quickly slid into a seat beside a dark haired girl with a kind smile, and then turned my attention back toward the front of the room.  I released a breath as I settled into my chair not being able to locate the class's professor, and then narrowed my eyes just as I finally watched the man that I had just been talking to in the hall, throw his satchel down onto the large desk in the center of the front of the room.  _What the…?_

                “Good morning everyone, and welcome to Shakespearean Literature.  If you have found yourself in the incorrect class this afternoon, the door is to your right, and if you have found yourself here tardy, well then congratulations!  You are allowed one free tardy per term, and you have been privileged enough to use yours on your very first day.  After this, any repeat offenders will be required to recite a line from whatever work we are currently studying with complete perfection, and if they do not, they will receive a mark down from their final grade as consequence.”  The mystery man from the hallway said with a wide smile as his eyes locked in on mine and caused my hands to sweat immediately against the thick fabric of my jeans.  I swallowed as all of the pieces to my afternoon began to fit together, and my embarrassment began to quickly wash over me in an overwhelming rush.

                “Well then, now that we have gotten that mess out of the way, let us jump right into our work, shall we?  Please have your syllabuses handy, and your pen's ready.”  The professor began, but after that I truly didn’t hear a single word that he had left to say.  I was so lost in embarrassment that I just simply pretended that I was paying attention while I mentally attempted to figure out how on earth I could get out of taking this class.  The humiliation of personally telling my professor that I already hated his class, not to mention his entire department, was eating me alive and the fact that I had already been singled out amongst my peers I was certain was far from a good thing.  Luckily, I would only have to deal with this man for an hour out of my day if I was unable to drop his class, and in my mind that was definitely more than enough. 

                After exactly sixty-seven minutes of mentally screaming at myself for my own stupidity, my literature class finally came to an end, and I was released at least momentarily from my self-inflicted torment.  Before my professor even spoke his last word to the class I found myself running for the door, and by the time that I saw the rest of my classmates leaving the building, I was already nearing the campus library.  I knew that I just needed to find Emma and get back to the safety of her home where I was certain that I could at least attempt to distract myself from the horrible day behind me with the massive level of coursework that somehow I already seemed to have. 

                After finding Emma about twenty minutes after my class had ended and then begging her for Tylenol the second that we had reached her car, the two of us eventually made our way back to her brother's home and thankfully put twenty minutes of distance between us and that horrible school.  I sighed as I finally opened my eyes after having them closed for nearly the entire ride just after Emma's car finally stopped, and then felt my stare widen as I took in a very beautiful view just next to my passenger side.  There sat a black, shiny, and incredibly sleek looking sports car with a nice German emblem on the back that I most definitely recognized.  I turned back toward Emma just in time to catch her rolling her eyes, and then I nodded back toward the impressive piece of engineering beside me wearing probably my first smile of the day.

                “Yes, that is my brother’s car.  My brother’s very expensive car, that I am quite certain cost more than his house.  I understand that it is pretty, but please do not ogle it in front of him.  Trust me, it only makes things worse.”  She said sarcastically with a slight laugh as we both quickly got out of her car and stepped down onto the cobblestone walkway beneath us.  I nodded slowly as I kept my eyes on the beautiful automobile in front of me, and then attempted not to drool as I slowly forced myself to walk by it.

                “I know it's none of my business, but how did he afford that?”  I asked cautiously knowing full well that a car of that nature would cost the average American person their yearly salary.  Emma shrugged her shoulders.

                “Tom has always been good with money, so I’m pretty sure that he saved for a long time before he got it.  He paid for it in cash though, nearly blew my parents minds with that one.”  She said as we began walking into the house together both of us still wearing a smile.  I nodded as I finally stopped myself from staring at her brother's car and then quickly turned my focus toward making my way safely inside the house just after nearly tripping on the main door's front step.

                “So, how was your first day?”  Emma asked as soon as we got settled into her living room just after I practically collapsed onto one of the heavenly leather sofa's that I had admired the night before, and then once again closed my pained green eyes.

                “Well, let’s see.  I got lost three times while looking for my Corporate Law Intensive even though it was only just down the hall from my Business Law Lecture, I tripped and nearly fell to my death when I tried to run in these dreadful shoes, and then oh yes, I told my literature professor to his face that I hated his class.”  I said sarcastically as I moaned into a throw pillow that was thankfully just beside my face at the memory of what I had so foolishly so recently did.  I heard Emma begin to laugh from beside me the second that I had finished my sentence.

                “And, why the hell did you do that, Lucy?”  She asked sounding shocked at my unusually disrespectful behavior.  Slowly, I lifted my head and then desperately attempted to defend my idiotic actions.

                “Because, I didn’t know he was the professor, Emma.  I was standing in the hall in front of my class contemplating not going at all since I was already late, and then I literally bumped into this inhumanely gorgeous man who had apparently been standing behind me the whole fucking time.  He asked me if I was lost and then without thinking about it, I told him the class that I was avoiding and why I was avoiding it.  He went along with it and acted like he was a student!  Then he told me I could sneak in behind him to avoid the professor, and then he turned out to be the fucking professor!”  I yelled angrily.  Emma stared at me for a second and then licked her lips as she appeared to be fighting off a very wide smile.

                “Inhumanely gorgeous huh?  How old was this hunky literature teacher of yours?”  She asked watching me carefully.  I shrugged my shoulders as I dropped my head back down toward my pillow.

                “I don’t know, he looked like he was maybe just a little older than us, which makes no fucking sense.  His eyes were so beautiful though, Emma.  They weren’t really blue, but they weren’t really all the way green either.  His smile was nice too.  It was sweet, but sexy at the same time.  It's really too bad he's an asshole or I’d tell you to take my spot in his class.”  I said quickly reigning in my gushing and silently reminding myself that I was engaged, and my teacher was quite possibly the devil incarnate.  Emma bit down on her bottom lip as she slowly shook her head just as I heard her stifle a small laugh.

                “Oh, that’s alright.  I’m pretty sure he isn’t my type.”  She said as she stumbled just slightly on her last few words.  I narrowed my eyes as I turned toward her in confusion.

                “Since when did a hot asshole become not your type, Emma?  That was all you dated at Harvard.”  I asked as I laughed to myself at the memories of all of the guys that she had introduced me to back when we had shared a dorm together, and how all of them had been incredibly attractive, but not exactly the nicest people that I had ever met.

                “Emma’s turning over a new leaf, Miss Taylor.  Hot assholes are no longer her style.”  I heard a very familiar voice say from just behind me, causing my heart to sink deep into my stomach and my hands to once again become slick with sweat against my pants.  Slowly, I opened my eyes and looked over toward Emma who was biting down on her lip and now avoiding my eyes completely.  I swallowed thickly as I finally forced myself to turn around, and there in the entryway, stood Mr. Hot Asshole himself.   _Again, what the…?_

                “Oh my god, Professor….”  I started as I immediately remembered that since I had been spacing off in class after my original embarrassment, I had not paid attention to my teacher's actual name.  Unfortunately, I was pretty sure that I knew his name now.

                “Lucy, um, I would like you to meet my brother, Tom.  Tom…well, I guess you two have already met.”  Emma said as she slightly trailed off, and I could tell that once again she had to hold back her laughter.  I swallowed thickly as I pushed myself up to stand and then once again took in the man who I had just been so scandalously speaking about just before I eventually met his eyes.

                “It is a pleasure to meet you, Lucy.  Welcome to my home.”  Tom said as he nodded slowly in my direction, and then winked one of his entrancing ocean colored eyes at me.  I swallowed thickly once again as I stared at the man in front of me who I had embarrassed myself in front of now twice in only one short afternoon, and then I carefully nodded my head.  So far, this had been the worst day that I had ever lived through, and judging by how the man in front of me was smiling like a Cheshire cat, I had a feeling that there was unfortunately so much more to come as far as days like this were concerned.


	3. Chapter 3

_“I can see he's not in your good books,' said the messenger._

_'No, and if he were I would burn my library.”_

_― William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing_

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          The silence surrounding me was filled with a heavy tension as I sat waiting in the empty lecture hall that occupied room one fifty-three, and stared up at the clock on the wall that so sarcastically reminded me that my most dreaded course did not start for yet another twenty god forsaken minutes.  I released a lengthy sigh into the warm late summer air that drifted in through one of the windows that lined the wall just to my right side, and then I looked down at my hands that were for some reason now trembling ever so slightly against the material of my black pencil skirt.  It had been just over one week since I had first arrived at Cambridge’s campus a complete mess of my own nerves, and to be completely honest, not much had really changed since then.  Ever since the moment that I had first been forced into the realization that my most loathed professor from my most dreaded course was also the brother of my best friend who I would be living with for the next full calendar year, well I had pretty much went from slightly anxious to completely out of my mind crazy.  For nearly eight full days I had done everything in my power to avoid the man who I now knew to be Professor Tom Hiddleston, and judging by the fact that I unfortunately slept just down the hall from him, well that hadn’t exactly been an easy feat to achieve.  Eight days of avoiding meal times, any room in my new home that could be deemed as a “common area”, and even completely rearranging my bathroom schedule had left me utterly exhausted and even more so embarrassed than I had been on the first day that this had all started the week before.  If only I would have realized that Tom had so obviously been my professor.  If only I had just kept my mouth shut like I was usually so good at doing.  If only he didn’t make me feel so…

          The digital clock in the corner of the room beeped loudly alerting me that it was now a quarter till two o’clock in the afternoon, and also thankfully pulled me out of my own head, where to be completely honest, I should never be left to be.  I shook my thoughts of the past week from my head, and just as I did, the door to my left side slowly opened for the first time since I had originally arrived.  I held my breath praying that my professor hadn’t decided to show up early in order to prepare for another of his lengthy lectures, but then happily released my breath as I saw the dark haired girl that I had been sitting next to nearly every day for the past week walk in, and then smile the moment that she saw me.

          “I think you are getting here earlier every day now.  He only cares if you are late, you know?  He could give a shit if you are an hour early.”  The girl with hazel eyes said as she widened her smile, and then eventually made her way to her usual seat next to me.  I sighed as I nodded my head, and then pushed my freshly straightened sandy blonde hair over my right shoulder.

          “No, I know.  It’s just that I don’t want to risk it after everything that happened on my first day.  I can tell that I am not on his good side, and if it isn’t completely obvious, this class isn’t exactly my area of expertise.”  I said with slight sarcasm as I watched the girl beside me begin to rifle through her back pack for her necessities for class.

          “Yeah love, I had kind of picked up on that.  If you don’t mind me asking, what is your area of expertise?”  She asked as she finally lifted a bright blue notebook, ink pen, yellow highlighter, and an electronic recorder from the inside of her sleek black bag and then laid them gently on her lap.  My eyes widened at her preparedness for a class that I didn’t think required nearly such dedication, and then I quickly cleared my throat.

          “Law.  Corporate Law, to be exact.  I went to Harvard for my undergrad work and for most of law school, but I decided to finish out my time here.”  I said as I relaxed back in my seat just as a few other students finally began to file into the classroom in search of their usual seats.

          “An American lawyer in a Shakespearean Literature class.  Bloody hell that’s a mess.  I take it you haven’t been here long, so, how do you like England so far?”  The girl beside me asked as she too relaxed back in her seat, and then carefully tightened the elastic band that was holding her dark hair up into its place neatly on top of her head.  I smiled as I slightly shrugged.

          “I like it a lot.  Everyone seems friendly, and at night you can see the stars.  You don’t really get to see that in New York too often.  It’s nice to see more than street lights.”  I said as my last words came out slightly softer than my first as I felt myself beginning to speak more to myself.

          “Yeah, I think London is a lot like that for most people.  It’s still nice and from what I’ve heard it smells a lot better than New York, but it’s always bustling and no one has time for anything but themselves. Cambridge is nice because it’s smaller, quieter, and everyone seems to be friends.  I think you will like it more the longer you are here too.  I do have another question though, if you don’t mind me asking?”  The girl asked as she tilted her head slightly in my direction.  I nodded as I smiled.

          “Sure.”  I said slightly fearing the girl’s next few words.

          “If you are an American law student finishing your law degree, then what the hell are you doing in a core Shakespearean Literature class that is filled with mostly undergrads or students from the English Faculty?”  The girl asked as she narrowed her eyes at me slightly.  I sighed remembering my horrible hour long phone conversation with Cambridge’s admissions office many months before, and then decided that I would attempt to give the shortest explanation that I could possibly muster without beginning to yell or feeling that I needed to take a Xanax. 

          “Well, when the admissions office here looked at my transcripts, they said that I was missing a core English class that I could not graduate without.  I was sure that Harvard had just lost some of my paperwork since I knew that I had finished my cores by my junior year, but no matter how hard anyone searched, they just couldn’t find it.  So, I finally agreed to take whatever was left since it was so late in registration, and it turned out that this was literally it.”  I explained as I felt my anxiety beginning to rise even thinking about actually having to complete the class that I was currently sitting in.  The girl beside me tilted her head to the side in what appeared to be confusion, and then pursed her thin lips tightly together.

          “Really?  This class was open that late in registration?  That’s a shocker.  This is normally one of the first English courses to close.”   She said sounding as if I were lying to her for some unknown reason.  I licked my lips as I began to tap the pen that I was holding slightly harder against my skirt, and then I cleared my throat once again.

          “Yeah, I guess someone dropped out or something.”  I answered as I shrugged and then dropped my eyes back down toward my hands.  The girl next to me laughed quietly to herself just after I answered, which immediately caused me to once again raise my head. 

          “What?”  I asked wondering what I could have possibly just said that could have been even close to comical regarding my forced entrance into a class that I still didn’t understand how anyone could truly enjoy.

          “Oh nothing, it’s just that is the only way that it makes sense that there were any spots left open.  Normally, the only people that get into this class or any of his others are the ones that do early registration.”  The girl answered as she glanced up toward the clock on the wall that now alerted us both that we had only five more minutes of our precious freedom left.

          “Why?  Why would anyone want to be in this class that bad?”  I asked honestly questioning the sanity of the girl sitting next to me as I remembered the subject matter of the class that we were in, and the cocky professor that just so happened to be teaching it.

          “Um…have you not seen Professor Hiddleston?  He’s practically sex on legs.”  The girl retorted as if I were insane for even attempting to question her in the first place.  I rolled my eyes slightly at the girl's immaturity as I shrugged my shoulders, and then released another breath.

          “Yes, I’ve seen him.  Sure, he’s good looking, but he’s also an asshole that singles out new students from completely different countries on their first day of class just because they got lost on a campus that has absolutely no organizational system what so ever!”  I said as my voice slightly lifted on my last few words, and my rage regarding my first day of classes at Cambridge came rushing back to me at the speed of light.  The girl beside me turned her head back to look at me, and then smiled slightly as she nodded.

          “Ah, so you’re the reason that we got that speech so early this term.  Normally, he doesn’t start that tardiness shit until midway through.  I’m shocked he didn’t give you a little bit more leeway though, he actually is quite nice when it comes down to it.”  She reasoned as she smoothed her hands over her shirt and jeans as if she were readying herself for a job interview or something.  I dropped my eyes back down to my skirt as I slightly ground my teeth together remembering the awful day in question.

          “Yeah, well telling him that I hated Shakespeare and the entire department that he worked in probably didn’t help bring that niceness out very much.  Still, he didn’t have to be such a jerk about it.”  I mumbled quietly as I began to twist my fingers together anxiously in my lap.  The girl beside me laughed out loud, and then quickly covered her mouth with one of her slightly tacky ring covered hands.

          “You insulted Shakespeare?  Well, I am just thrilled that you are still alive.  Don’t worry though, I’m sure it will get better.  Once you learn how he is, and what he wants, the term will go better.  He intimidated me at first too, but ever since last year, I’ve gotten high marks on nearly everything that I’ve turned in.”  She boasted as she brightly smiled.  I nodded slowly as I immediately threw any interest of what Professor Hiddleston wanted quickly out of my brain, but then turned my head toward the girl beside me, and slightly narrowed my eyes.

          “How many of Professor Hiddleston’s classes have you taken, if you don’t mind me asking?  You seem to know an awful lot about him, and all this stuff.”  I questioned as I stared at the slightly strange dark haired girl, wondering how anyone could enjoy Shakespeare or the professor in question enough to take more courses involving either more than was absolutely necessary.  The girl smiled brightly from beside me.

          “This will be my fourth...since I switched my major.  Maybe this term he will actually learn my name.”  She said as her smile slightly fell on her overly lip gloss covered lips.  I felt my eyes widen at the information that the girl had just given me, but then I quickly readjusted my expression so that I didn’t offend what could possibly be my first non-Harvard related friend that I had made in nearly the past six years.

          “Well, then I will know who to bother when I don’t understand something, I guess.  By the way, I don’t think that I have gotten your name either.  My name is Lucy.  Lucy Taylor.”  I said as I stuck my hand out properly just as my father had taught me to just before I entered grade school.  The girl beside me smiled as she patted my arm lovingly instead of accepting my outstretched hand.

          “My name is Emily, and Lucy, I think you have quite a lot to learn.”  She said and with that our conversation ended, and my dreaded reality once again began.  The second that Emily righted herself once again in her seat, the door to room one fifty-three swung open one last time, and in walked Professor Hiddleston.  _Formerly known as…Mr. Hot Asshole._

          The second that the professor walked into the room, a hush fell over what I estimated to be the nearly one hundred other students that filled the space around me, and nearly every person suddenly sat at complete attention, appearing suddenly desperate to learn.  I released a slightly sickened breath as I watched nearly every female in the class (which was honestly nearly eighty percent of the class) stare in a lovesick awe at the man in front of us as if he was walking on water just for our viewing pleasure.  I rolled my eyes as I listened to a few lewd comments about the professor’s tightly tailored suit fly through the air around me, and then I sat back in my seat praying that today’s lecture would fly by so that I could spend my night locked in my bedroom preparing for an Ethics exam that I had the following day. 

          “Good afternoon, everyone.  I hope that your morning courses were well, and I hope that you are all here ready to dive in to the first true section of this class.  As I stated last week, this course will be broken up into four main sections.  First, we will focus on the comedies, which is what we are beginning today.  Second, we will move into the histories, and that will be as we near the holidays.  Thirdly, we will exam the tragedies come the beginning of spring, and then as we wrap up the term we will move into the poetry.”  Professor Hiddleston began as he carefully unfastened the middle button on his coal grey suit jacket, and then shrugged it off of his broad set shoulders.  I swallowed as I both felt my stomach tighten at the intimidating outline of the course that was being repeated to me once again, and also sweat begin to form on my palms as I found myself almost unwillingly staring at the man standing before me as he hung his suit jacket over the back of his large leather chair.

          “Today I will briefly outline the works that make up what are known as the comedies, and I will also outline what in fact a comedy truly is.  I will then distribute a list of your responsibilities as far as course work is concerned during this section, and lastly I will hand back your initial assignments that you handed in at the end of last week.”  The professor finally finished as he referred to the idiotically simple orientation assignment that he had given to us where we were supposed to pick any short work of Shakespeare’s, and merely put it into our own words while briefly explaining its meaning as well.  I was going to be a lawyer in just a little over a year…and here I was…explaining poetry that most people had read when they were in high school.

          The next sixty-two minutes of class went by as slowly as they possibly could have, and by the time that Professor Hiddleston had finished his long drawn out explanation of a series of plays that I had absolutely no interest in, well I was ready to check out for the day or possibly even the entire week.  As soon as the clock neared three-fifteen I was ready to run for the door and never look back, but of course I was stopped before I was able to actually make it to the freedom that I had so desperately craved ever since the hour before.  Apparently for me, when it came to Professor Hiddleston’s class, there was simply no victory to be had as far as I was concerned. _An awfully daunting realization to come to when you were only beginning week two._

          “If you would all please stop by Mr. Dickson in the front of the room before you leave, he will return your work to you from last week.  If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask, and don’t forget that you should all begin to read the first act of The Taming of The Shrew tonight.  Discussion will begin tomorrow, and everyone will be expected to participate.”  Professor Hiddleston said quickly just as I had almost reached the door, quickly reminding me of both my completed assignment that I actually hadn’t had too hard of a time completing, and also the headache of the new assignment that was just beginning.

          Finally, after a few moments of actually debating leaving without my assignment just so that I could get to Emma’s car a little bit quicker, I reluctantly made my way down toward the front of the lecture hall behind all of the other overly eager students, and toward Professor Hiddleston’s slightly annoying teaching assistant.  Mr. Dickson (or Benjamin as he preferred to be called) was a grad student who would be completing his schooling at the end of the term just as would I, and who believed that since he was a teaching assistant, he had the same authority of the professor himself.  Benjamin would constantly attempt to add pieces of information to the professor’s lectures that had absolutely no worth in the conversation what so ever, and he would flirt with all the girls that were forced to be around him, who so obviously were there for someone else.  Benjamin was a slimy little guy with a developing God complex that was training with what appeared to be the man who had created said complex all by himself God knows how long before.  He was a know it all and a kiss ass, and he was suddenly staring me right in the face.

          “Ah, yes, if it isn’t Miss America?  I was afraid you weren’t going to come down to see me today.”  Benjamin said with a slightly creepy smile as he began to rummage through one of the stacks of papers on his small side desk that more than slightly paled in comparison to Professor Hiddleston’s desk just a short distance away.  I sighed at the nickname that Benjamin had given me, but attempted to smile even though I wanted to hurl.

          “Oh no, I’m dying to see how I did.  Tough assignment.”  I mocked sarcastically as I watched Benjamin finally pluck a paper from the stack beneath him, and then raise his dark blue eyes up to mine.  The look on his face told me all that I needed to know before I even saw the paper, but for some odd reason, I didn’t take his expression nearly seriously enough.

          “Well, you’re still getting the hang of it here, so I really wouldn’t fret about this.  I’m sure you’ll have better luck next time, Lucy.”  Benjamin said as he handed me my paper, and as he finally said my real name out loud, I saw a bright red letter staring back at me from the top of my page that I had never on any of my work ever seen before.

          “He gave me a D?”  I nearly yelled as I watched the last few students file out of the lecture hall, and a few of them shake their head in slight amusement as they heard my question ring out.  Benjamin shrugged as he ran one of his hands through his light brown hair, and then swallowed thickly as he appeared to become slightly nervous.

          “It’s not that big of deal, Lucy, really.  This assignment wasn’t worth that much toward your grade, it was more just to see where everyone was at.  You’ve never taken a Shakespearean class before, it’s hard to get used to at first.”  He justified as he nodded slowly toward my paper.  I felt all of the blood begin to rise in my cheeks just as I lifted my head and noticed that Professor Hiddleston was still standing by his desk, and that he was staring back at me as if he was extending some sort of silent challenge my way.  _Challenge accepted, Professor._

          “I don’t care if it was extra fucking credit!  I’ve never gotten below a B in my entire life.  I want to talk to him right now.  I…”  I started as I began walking in the direction of the professor that I seriously was considering attempting to kill, but then was immediately stopped by Benjamin’s very waifish body as he pushed himself directly in my way.

          “Professor Hiddleston has office hours on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday between three and five.  That would be the time for you to speak with him about your grade, but seriously Lucy, I wouldn’t worry about it.  You will do better next time.  I mean if you need help…”  Benjamin continued, but I could barely hear a word that he was saying as that bright red D continued staring at me from the top of my neatly typed page.

          “I don’t care when his office hours are!  I want to speak with him right fucking now!”  I yelled as my eyes once again met the professor’s and this time, I knew that I might have overstepped my bounds by screaming so loudly in such a formal place.  The second that my last word left my lips, the professor’s eyes seemed to light up slightly with what appeared to be some sort of wicked excitement, and I could see his hands begin to tense against the wood of his desk.  Slowly, he ran his tongue over his bottom lip as he continued to stare at me, and then he nodded toward Benjamin just as he lifted one of his hands up to the waves of his copper colored hair.

          “Mr. Dickson, I believe that there is somewhere that you need to be.  I will speak with Miss Taylor now, as it appears that she is simply unable to wait.”  Professor Hiddleston said formally as his bright ocean colored eyes remained fixed on mine, and the muscles that laced down his throat flexed slightly as he swallowed.  My skin heated for more reasons than I could count as I felt the paper in my hand beginning to slightly crumble in my grip.

          “But…”  Benjamin started, but he quickly stopped his retort the second that Professor Hiddleston finally turned his head, and sternly met his dark blue eyes.  Benjamin swallowed thickly as he then nodded toward me with a small sympathetic smile, and then quickly gathered the papers that were left on his desk just before he finally left the room. 

          The silence surrounding me was so loud that it was almost painful to endure as I stared at the man standing just about fifty feet in front of me leaning against the side of his desk, and staring back at me appearing to wait for the argument that he knew was coming his way.  My throat was tight as I took a timid step forward, and my hands were for some reason shaking as I wracked my brain for something to say that would help me in anyway get the horrible grade on the paper in my hand changed, but for some reason I was drawing a complete blank when it came to suitable words.  I had just fought tooth and nail with an idiot on an ego trip to get time to speak with the professor, and now that I had the chance, I couldn’t seem to speak to save my life.  My heart began to race as my anxiety quickly set in, but no matter how much my words escaped me and my fear consumed me, I finally opened my mouth just the same.

          “Professor Hiddle…”  I began, but before I could even get his full name out, the man in front of me quickly raised his hand signaling me to be silent.  I swallowed as I watched him push himself slowly away from his desk, and then carefully start moving toward me just like a lion assessing its prey.

          “My name is Tom, Lucy.  I believe that since we live in the same house, these formalities when we are alone aren’t most likely necessary.”  He said in a smooth, low voice that sent a shiver up my spine and caused a chill to move over my skin.  _There was just something about his voice._

          “Alright, then.  Tom, you gave me a D.”  I said as I held up the paper in front of me so that he could hopefully realize the mistake that he had made, and right it before I went completely insane.  Tom nodded as he looked at the now nearly destroyed paper in my hand, and then released a lengthy breath.

          “Yes, Lucy, I did.”  He said dryly as he took another few slow steps closer toward me, which caused my heart to once again begin to thump harder inside of my chest.  I immediately scowled as I realized that my grade hadn’t been a mistake, and that the man in front of me had known very well what he had been doing the whole time.  _Screw what my heart was doing, I hated this man._

          “But, I did exactly what you asked.  I picked a short work by Shakespeare, I put it in my own words, and I explained it.  I did exactly what you said, and you gave me a D.”  I said from between my clenched teeth as I stared at Tom incredulously as I awaited his explanation.  Tom nodded once again as he stopped walking just a few inches in front of me and then slowly reached out, and plucked the paper that I held from my hand.  I jumped at the almost contact with my body that he made, and then felt like an idiot nearly immediately after.

          “Yes, you did do exactly what I said.  You picked a short work, and you explained it.  The problem with your paper, is that you picked the first sonnet that appears when you type in Shakespeare’s name to Google, and you explained it as if you were dissecting it for science.”  He said as he crossed his arms over his chest still holding my work, and then narrowed his beautiful ocean colored eyes in my direction.  I felt my jaw tighten even more as I attempted to ignore the way that the buttons on Tom’s white dress shirt were gaping open slightly near his chest as he moved, and how the material of his shirt was so thin that I could almost perfectly make out the tight muscle definition of his upper arms.  _Jesus, what was wrong with me lately?_

          “I didn’t explain it like that!  I explained it how I understood it, and how I viewed it.  That was the fucking assignment!  You can’t give me a D for that!”  I yelled as I took a step closer toward Tom, once again finding my rage right where I had left it.  Tom tilted his head toward me as he smiled slightly, and then carefully, he uncrossed his arms and handed my paper back to me.

          “Read it to me.”  He said in a stern voice that had just the slightest amount of humor lacing its strangely delicious edges.  I narrowed my eyes in both question and confusion.

          “Excuse me?”  I asked.  Tom extended his arm further out toward me, and then nodded toward my paper.

          “Read it to me.  Read me the piece that you choose, and then read me your explanation of that piece.”  He said very matter of factly as if I had been an idiot for not immediately understanding.  I stared at my professor still in complete confusion, but then finally reluctantly retrieved my paper from his large masculine hand. 

         “Sonnet Eighteen, written by William Shakespeare.

          Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

          Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

          Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

          And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

          Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

          And often is his gold complexion dimmed

          And every fair from fair sometime declines,

          By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:

          But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

          Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,

          Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

          When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,

          So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

          So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”  I read quickly just before I dropped my paper down away from my eyes, and then turned my gaze back up toward Tom.  Tom stared back at me as he finally licked his slightly plump bottom lip, and then nodded once again down toward the page.

        “And, your explanation.”  He said as he once again crossed his arms over his chest.  I noticed his chest begin to rise and fall slightly faster as I watched him, and then I quickly dropped my eyes back down to the page before me so that I could at least attempt to focus on what was really important in that moment.

        “In reading this sonnet, I believe that William Shakespeare is attempting to convey that the person that he is writing this sonnet for, is far more beautiful and more meaningful to him than even the most perfect moment in time.  In most poetry and romantic literature, the object of the writer’s affections is usually compared to warm, sunny, and beautiful occurrences in nature because they are found so inviting.  I believe that this is what Shakespeare was attempting to express.  He is stating that the person that he loves is far greater than anything else, even something as pleasurable as the perfect day.”  I said as I lowered my paper once again, and then reluctantly met the eyes of the man standing before me, still appearing to be studying me like a book.  Tom nodded down toward my page.

       “Does that explanation sound correct to you?”  He asked in what appeared to be complete earnest as he carefully watched me just as I began to fidget before him, and feel more than just slightly on display after having to publicly read my own work.  I shrugged my shoulders slightly and then very slowly nodded my head.

       “I guess.  I mean, it was a piece about a man comparing the person that he cares for to a summer’s day.  Summer’s days inspire very pleasant feelings in people, and remind people of their youth and happiness that they might no longer feel.  Shakespeare is saying that the person that he cares for is even more important to him than all of that, and more breathtaking as well.  I don’t see how that is the wrong answer.”  I said as I took a step forward once again showing the very red D written across my page to the man standing in front of me.  Tom released a breath as he matched my step, and then finally dropped his arms back down to his sides.

       “It is not the wrong answer, Lucy, it is just a scripted answer.  This was not a sonnet about a man speaking about someone that he cared for or someone that was simply the object of his affections.  This was a sonnet about a man who was speaking about his lover, his heart, his soul, and everything that she meant to him.  This was a sonnet about comparing the beauty of the one that he adored to the beauty of a place and time that lives forever in him.  A summer’s day represents youth, and the words that Shakespeare wrote represent this man taking how he felt about his lover, and making them into something that would last forever.  Something that was constant like that feeling that she gave to him.  Something that was constant like the feeling that he had for her.”  He explained passionately as he stared down at me now with his arms widespread, and a look on his face that said to me that if I didn’t understand this now, I was a complete idiot.

       “Most of that is what I said.”  I said slightly quieter as I felt the words that Tom had just said still vibrating against my skin, and causing my heart to do double jumps inside of my chest.  Tom narrowed his eyes, and then released an exhausted breath as he took another small step closer toward me.  I sucked in a breath as I could almost feel the warmth from his body beginning to collide with mine.  My heart nearly exploded.  _What the hell was going on with me?_

        “No, it wasn’t.  You gave me half assed description of the first work of Shakespeare that you found on your search engine, and then a bad attitude when you didn’t get the grade you wanted.  I understand that you don’t want to be in my class, Lucy, but you are here and whether you like it or not, I am your only way to graduation.  Put some thought into your work from now on, or this is going to be a very long term for the both of us.”  He said in a very tired, but still sharp sounding tone of voice.  I narrowed my eyes as I stared at the man in front of me, and prepared myself once again to fight if need be.

        “You asked us to explain the piece as we saw it.  If that is how I saw it, how can I be wrong?”  I asked as I gritted my teeth, and glared daggers at the man in front of me.  I just refused to simply let this go.  He didn’t get to win just because all of the other girls in class thought that he was dreamy, and because he thought that reading romantic stories was cool.  Tom tilted his head slightly as a look of amused curiosity moved over his face.

        “Is that really how you saw it, Lucy?”  He asked in a slightly softer tone that seemed to practically dance off of his lips.  I swallowed as I felt the hairs on my arms begin to prickle against my skin, and my heart begin to return to its double flips.

       “Yes.”  I said in a hushed tone as I silently prayed that my grade might still be negotiable since I was still being asked questions.  There was a small silence, and then finally, Tom slowly stepped forward and grabbed the paper from my hand just before he turned and set it down on the desk just behind him.  He retrieved a pen that had previously be housed in his dress shirt pocket, he wrote something on the page that I could not see, and then he slowly returned it back to me.  I stared down at the letters “IC” written on the top of my page, now in black ink, and then lifted my stare back up toward his.

       “If that was how you truly saw it Lucy, then I will consider this work currently incomplete.  I would like you to reread the sonnet and consider revising your explanation.  If you turn that back into me tomorrow, I will consider changing your grade.”  He said as he nodded toward me slowly with a softer expression in his eyes than he had before.  I sighed in relief at the realization that I still had the chance to save my grade, but then I decided to ask just one more question before I completely gave up in my fight.

       “What am I supposed to do differently that is going to change how I see this sonnet?”  I asked wondering if there was some sort of Shakespeare decoder book that I would need to purchase from the campus bookstore in order to further understand the workings of the man that my professor apparently seemed to live by.

        “Open your eyes.”  Tom said, and with that, our conversation was over.  The two of us stood in silence for a few more uneasy moments, and then finally, I left the lecture hall in hopes that Emma hadn’t gotten too far and that I still had a ride to get me far away from that horrible building.  I thought about Tom’s words all the way home, and but no matter how many times I turned his suggestions around in my mind, I still couldn’t get anything that had happened in that classroom to make any sort of logical sense.  Finally, by the time that I had eaten dinner I had decided to just leave well enough alone and attempt to stop obsessing.  I would redo the paper that I had thankfully been given a second chance on as well as I could, and I would pray that it would meet Tom’s standards.  Tom’s obviously completely unattainably high….insane Shakespearean standards.


	4. Chapter 4

_“I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again._

_Mine ear is much enamoured of thy note;_

_So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;_

_And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me,_

_On the first view, to say, to swear, I love thee.”  -William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream_

 

* * *

 

 

          A crisp early autumn breeze blew gently through the branches of the trees that surrounded me as I sat quietly on the lush green grass beneath my bare folded legs, and stared down at the book that I was once again foolishly attempting to in anyway even somewhat understand.  The soft sound of students conversing from a short distance away floated in on the air that so deliciously caressed my exposed skin, and the smell of wildflowers tickled at my nose as I finally took in a much needed deep breath that I prayed would somehow clear my once again completely confused mind.  The slightly tattered leather bound textbook that lay open in my lap stared back at me in an almost mocking manner as it suddenly appeared that all of the words lining its pages were beginning to run together, and the pen that I held in my left hand tapped anxiously against the book’s worn surface as if it had a mind of its own.  I had been reading the same selection of seemingly meaningless words over to myself for nearly the past hour, and I had been completely lost on the subject matter that I was currently studying, for nearly the past month.

          “You have been staring at that book like it’s written in another language for almost forty-five minutes, Lucy.  Did you start taking a French course without me knowing about it?”  Emma suddenly joked from the dark wool blanket that she lay on just to the right hand side of me, immediately jarring me from my obsessive thinking, and slowly turning my attention in her direction.

          “No, but I would welcome French at this point, Emma.  I’m studying for your perfectionist of a brother’s class right now, and honestly, it feels like it’s in another language.”  I huffed as I slowly dropped my pen from my slightly shaking hand down into the binding of my book that still lay open against my thighs, and then I leaned back on my hands as I turned my attention up toward the slightly clouded greyish colored sky.

          “Yeah, it took me a while to wrap my head around Shakespeare’s stuff too, but don’t worry, you’ll eventually get the hang of it.  It’s a shame that you didn’t realize that you were missing this credit when you were back at Harvard though, taking a Shakespeare course in England is practically the worst possible place on earth that you could take it.  Brit’s take his work way more seriously than American’s do, which makes classes like my brother’s nearly impossible to pass.  What play does he have you on right now, anyway?  Not Romeo and Juliet, I hope.”  Emma asked with a slightly sarcastic smile as she nodded down toward the book that still silently mocked me from my lap, and then she crossed one of her long porcelain skinned legs slowly over the other.  I shook my head as I released another exhausted breath, and then I unsuccessfully faked an overly excited smile just before answering my incredibly sardonic friend.

          “No, but at least I somewhat understand the premise of that angsty little delight.  Instead, we are reading _A Midsummer Night’s_ Dream, and I am more lost now than ever.  There are like a million different things going on all at the same time in this stupid play, and somehow, I am supposed to be able to explain each individual ridiculous plot line in great depth when I am ninety percent sure that there is absolutely no depth in this shit at all.  I mean, I do realize that all of the girls in my class believe that every word that Shakespeare writes is just the most romantic thing that they have ever read, but I am honestly over it.  And, I am also honestly over this entire stupid fucking class!”  I rambled as I noticed my voice suddenly become much louder than it had been before, and also the book resting on my lap begin to violently shake against my now practically spasming curled up legs.  Emma smiled as she nodded slowly, and then she quickly pushed the book that she had been reading carelessly off of her lap just before she finally addressed what I had just so psychotically stated.

          “Wow, Lucy.  I’ve never seen you so stressed out over one little course before.  It sounds like you are moving quickly through the material though, so that is good, right?  What ever happened to _The Taming of The Shrew_ that you were screaming about last week?  I’ve always enjoyed that little BDSM themed literary delight.”  She joked slightly mockingly as she narrowed her soft crystal blue eyes deliberately in my direction.  I nodded as I remembered the nightmare that I had somehow finally survived the week before, and then I released another much needed sigh before I decided to answer once again.

          “We finished it last Thursday, thank God.  We are only spending a few weeks on each play, and then we have some sort of insanely huge project that we have to finish at the end of each section.  Right now we are doing the comedies, and in my opinion, they really just aren’t that fucking funny.”  I said as I sighed slightly dramatically, and then immediately rolled my eyes at my own statement.  Emma laughed as she shook her head obviously at my expense, and then once again met my incredibly nerve wrecked eyes.

          “Oh, Lucy.  The comedies aren’t supposed to be so much _funny_ as they are supposed to be _witty_ or even just kind of tongue in cheek.  Trust me they are better than the tragedies though, so don’t complain too much just yet, darling.  I don’t wish the hell that is those pain in the arses on anyone.”  She said as she shook her head slowly with a small smile, and then turned her eyes down toward her stylishly covered dainty feet.  I released a breath, not wanting to even think about any more Shakespeare than I had already endured or was  currently in the middle of, but then I slowly shrugged my shoulders in reply just the same.

          “Well, I think this whole class will be hell for me no matter what section that we are on, but I guess that doesn’t really matter anyway.  I have to pass this class or I don’t graduate at the end of the year, and that is just the way it is.  I just really wish that I understood what it was that I was reading.  These monologues and shit just make no God forsaken sense.”  I said as I felt my anxiety beginning to rise quickly from deep inside of me just at the thought of Professor Hiddleston’s class once again, and my nerves beginning to burn from just beneath my skin.  Emma sighed in what appeared to be slight exhaustion as her expression turned sympathetic toward me, and then she smiled lovingly in my direction.

          “So, if you don’t get it, then ask for help.  You just so happen to live with the fucking professor, Lucy.  Take advantage of it for Christ Sakes.”  She suggested as if I was a complete idiot for not thinking of her idea before she had, and then she cleared the rest of her scattered papers away from her jean short clad legs just before she eventually once again pushed herself up to sit.  I swallowed thickly as my anxiety practically exploded from inside of my body the same way that it always did just at the mere mention of my literature professor, and then I nervously cleared my now painfully aching throat.

          “I’ll be fine Emma, don’t worry.  I really don’t think that I am your brother’s favorite student right now since I am practically the only one in his class that doesn’t swoon the second that he walks into the room, so I am pretty sure that the last thing that I need to do is to tell him that I am also his only student that doesn’t in any way at all understand.”  I said anxiously as I shook my head quickly and then huffed as I began picking up my work that surrounded me, and started putting it back into my completely unorganized bag.  I could feel Emma’s eyes on me as I collected my things, but I ignored her for as long as I possibly could anyway.

          “Tom isn’t really one to pick favorites, Lucy, and trust me a lot of his students have tried.  I definitely think that he would understand why you don’t get it considering your area of study.  I am pretty sure that you are his only law student.”  She explained as she too began to pick up her things that lay around her, and then hastily shove them into her rose colored satchel.  I sighed as I shrugged my shoulders once again, and as always I also pretended that I didn’t even slightly care.

          “Yeah, well I don’t really want to have to admit to him that I am completely fucking lost, I don’t care what my major is.  I’ve already had to redo two assignments out of the four that we’ve had.  I think that is plenty embarrassment enough, Emma.”  I said as I finally picked my knap sack up off of the ground beneath me, and then I pushed myself up carefully to stand.  Emma watched me intently as she too finally found her way up onto her expensively decorated feet, and then released a very slow slightly confused sounding breath. 

          “He let you redo your assignments?”  She asked suspiciously as her eyes narrowed just as soon as they quickly met mine.  I nodded as I ran my fingers through my long sandy colored waves slowly, and then began casually walking back toward the central section of campus.

          “Yeah, first it was my orientation piece, and then it was my dissection of _The Taming of The Shrew._   God, I think that I am the only student that has ever had to do that in his class before, Emma.  Everyone else is practically road scholars when it comes to this shit, and I am like fucking literarily challenged or something.”  I whined as both Emma and I began walking toward our last afternoon class slowly, and away from the serenity of the southern side of campus’ quaint little quad.  Emma smiled as she shook her head carefully, and then she bit down gently on her slightly over glossed bottom lip.

          “Well they might be road scholars sweetie, but I think that you just might be the first favorite.  My brother doesn’t let his students redo their work…like ever.  It’s either you do it right the first time, or you do again next term.”  She said as I could feel her eyes staring almost excitedly in my direction.  I released a breath as I felt my nerves come to life beneath my skin at even the notion of Emma’s brother actually even kind of _not_ hating me, and then I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly once again.

          “I don’t think Tom letting me redo a few assignments has anything to do with favoritism, Emma.  I am pretty sure that either he truly pities me, or he is doing it because you are his sister.   Your brother definitely doesn’t like me, and I am going to be lucky if his pity is enough to even pass me.”  I said as I felt my chest becoming tighter with anxiety the closer that we got to the English Faculty where I always had irritatingly mixed feelings about going nearly every single day that I was forced to walk there.

          “Lucy Taylor, I have known you for almost six years and never before have I ever known you to care as much about if someone likes you as much as it is so obvious that you care if my brother likes you right now.  Such an interesting turn of events ever since you crossed over that ocean, my darling.”  Emma teased with a sudden excitement in her voice as she quickly grabbed my arm and then turned my body urgently toward hers.  I breathed out in completely uncomfortable frustration as I adamantly refused to meet Emma’s sparkling blue eyes, and then I immediately dropped my gaze down to the cobblestone decorated ground beneath my black shoes.

          “I only care because if he doesn’t like me, I don’t graduate.  It’s that simple, Emma.”  I said feeling knots beginning to form deep inside of my stomach, and the color draining immediately from my face.  Emma sighed as her excitement slightly faltered, and then her smile turned once again to that of complete sympathy.

          “Then ask Tom for help, Lucy.  If you don’t ask for help, then you are never going to understand what he is teaching, and in turn you are never going to pass his class.  My brother is honestly one of the nicest people that I have ever met, and one of the most passionate teachers left at this snooty little school.  If you tell him that you don’t understand the material that he is teaching, then he will explain it to you until you do, or until he dies trying.  Be honest with him, sweetheart.  It is the only way that your year is going to get any better or at least become slightly more bearable.”  She said as she smiled softly and then finally released her once tight grip on my slender right arm.  I released a shaky breath as I closed my incredibly tired eyes for the first time since morning, and then finally I was completely honest with my dearest friend.

          “I would literally rather ask anyone else in the world, Emma, _anyone_.”  I sighed as we slowly once again began walking in our intended direction.  Emma shrugged appearing as if she had been unusually defeated, and then sighed as she humorously rolled her pale blue colored eyes.

          “Alright, well it is obvious that you are going to be your usual stubborn self, so let me ask you this.  Does Tom have a TA or something that can help you?  If you are too afraid to ask my big bad brother, then ask the nerd that does all his work.”  She joked with a smile as we finally reached the massive brick building in which my last class was being held, and then once again stopped walking.  I made a disgusted face as Benjamin Dickson’s annoying voice and completely creepy face popped into my mind, and suddenly my literature professor looked like a fucking saint.

          “Maybe I could just stop by Tom’s office hours after class or something.  I mean, what could it hurt?”  I asked suddenly thinking out loud as I turned toward the stairs just to my left side, and attempted to push out the anxiety that was silently once again attempting to claim my mind.  Emma laughed as she moved passed me slowly, and began walking casually toward the buildings that housed the esteemed Cambridge Business Faculty. 

          “Well, that TA must be a real treat if you changed your mind that fast, Lucy.  Good luck with class today though. Don’t forget to look interested.”  She teased as she slowly increased her casual pace, and then flirtatiously winked in my direction.  I sighed as I hesitantly began to climb the stairs that led into the aged building standing intimidatingly before me, and then I once again rolled my eyes.

          “I’m trying to pass, Emma, not win an academy award.”  I said with a smile just as my hand finally found the knob to the English building’s large wooden door.  Emma laughed as she nodded, and then eventually started to more quickly move away from me.

          “See you later, love.”  She called behind her as she blew a kiss in my direction.  I nodded as I waved her off with a loving smile lingering on my face, and then finally, the two of us eventually parted ways.

          By the time that I finally reached the inside of my much dreaded literature class, the lecture hall around me was nearly completely full, and not an empty spot could be found for as far as I could see.  I was still a few minutes early as far as actual tardiness was concerned, but it seemed that I just wasn’t quite early enough when it came to obtaining an actually decent seat.  Unfortunately my usual spot next to Emily had already been taken by a girl who looked like she was a highly sophisticated librarian, and the only seat that I could easily see, was located directly in the front of the slightly overcrowded room.  My stomach did backflips as I reluctantly made my way to the unfamiliar wooden chair just a few feet in front of me, and then my heart began to pound frightfully loud inside of my chest, just as the lecture hall door slowly opened once again.  Carefully, I unpacked my things onto the small desk top in front of me as I attempted to quickly swallow my fears, and then after avoiding reality for not nearly long enough, I finally lifted my eyes to the center of room.  There, standing in a freshly pressed midnight black colored dress shirt and tightly tailored grey suit pants stood my devastatingly gorgeous literature professor, and for some odd reason he now looking directly at me.

          “Good afternoon, everyone.  We have a lot of material to cover today, so please let’s begin by opening our playbooks to page four.”  Tom started as he reached one of his long arms carefully behind him, and then retrieved his worn official appearing playbook from the desk that he now leaned just slightly against.  The room around me immediately went into chaotic motion as everyone scrambled to follow Tom’s orders as quickly as they could manage, and then finally it once again fell quiet after they had all so obediently done as they had been told.

          “Thank you.  Now, I will assume that everyone finished reading the first act last night just as was assigned, and that you have all completed your notations as I suggested.  Would anyone care to share their thoughts on what they read before we move on to the next selection?”  Tom asked as he stared out over the room in front of him, and then narrowed his beautiful ocean colored eyes.  I sighed as I looked down quickly at my lap as I sensed nearly the entire room around me quickly raise their overly eager hands, and I silently prayed that God would just for today somehow save me.  There was a much too short silence, and then of course, it happened.

          “Miss Taylor.”  I heard Tom say slowly as if my name was dripping off of his lips just after I had finished my silent, and obviously completely unanswered prayer.  I swallowed thickly as I felt all of the blood immediately drain from my face, and my stomach begin to tighten to the point of complete pain inside of me.  The room around me went silent except for the sound of a few quiet bitchy sounding whispers, and then finally, I slowly lifted my head.

          “Yes?”  I squeaked in a slightly high pitched tone of voice just as I finally met the ocean colored eyes of my professor that were intensely staring back at me, and then felt my fingers violently begin to shake against my tightly folded hands.  Tom nodded down toward the book that sat open in my lap, and then he slowly licked his thin slightly rose colored lips.

          “Would you care to share your thoughts on the assigned reading?”  He asked carefully as he crossed his arms slowly over his chest, and then leaned back even more so against his large mahogany finished desk with a very smug smile on his annoying perfect chiseled face.  I swallowed thickly as I felt fear immediately begin to wash over me, but I knew that I needed to push forward just the same.   _Remember that you need to graduate, Lucy._

          “Um, of course.  Um, the first act of the play begins with the Duke of Athens preparing for the festival that is celebrating his impending marriage.  Shortly after, Egeus enters with his daughter who wants to marry Lysander, but who he actually wants to marry Demetrius.  Egeus then goes to Theseus and asks him for the right to either make his daughter marry Demetrius or to be able to kill her, and then his daughter and Lysander eventually decide to create a plan to sneak off and get married no matter what her father thinks.  The act ends with the artisans beginning to plan a play for the duke’s wedding, and Helena, who is apparently in love with Demetrius, explaining that she plans to tell him about Hermia and Lysander’s secret plans.”  I explained quickly as I felt my hands nervously beginning to tap against the flimsy material of my book, and also become slick with a slight sheen of my anxious sweat.  The room around me remained silent as Tom kept his eyes intently in my direction, and then he slowly once again uncrossed his arms.

          “Yes, that is exactly what the first act is _about_ , Miss Taylor.  Now, would you please tell me your thoughts?” He asked as his eyes almost painfully burned into mine despite the space that remained between us, and their intensity immediately caused my hands to shake even harder than they had been before.  I swallowed thickly against the lump that had formed deep inside of my throat.   _Shit, what the hell was I going to say?_

          “Um, my thoughts are that it seems incredibly barbaric for a parent to believe that they have the power to control their daughter to the point of having her killed if she doesn’t do exactly as they say.”  I answered quickly as I licked my suddenly dry lips, and then lifted my eyes back up to the man still standing so intimidatingly before me.  Tom nodded slowly as he pressed his large hands down harder against the sturdy appearing wood of his expansive desk, and then he tightly curled his long fingers around its polished edge.  I felt my eyes linger on my professor’s forearms as I noticed his muscles slightly tense just beneath his skin as he moved them, and the veins just above his knuckles begin to slightly bulge.  My heartbeat quickened inside of me as I immediately dropped my eyes at the sensation of my mouth suddenly beginning to water, and then I cleared my throat uneasily just after I had finished my reply.

          “That is only one thought, Miss Taylor.  Did anything else about this act happen to catch your eye?”  Tom asked as he lifted his brow quizzically in my direction, and then he ran his tongue slowly over the swell of his suddenly alluring bottom lip.  My hands shook harder as I began to tap my foot anxiously against the floor beneath my feet.

          “Um…maybe just that to me it seems a little foolish for Hermia and Lysander to try to sneak off to get married when her father just threatened to have her killed if she didn’t marry Demetrius.  I mean, I definitely think that it’s wrong to threaten to have your daughter killed and all, but I don’t think that I would tempt fate with as serious as her father seemed to be.”  I answered quickly as I twisted my fingers tightly together in my lap, and then released another incredibly anxious breath.  Tom tightened his grip on the desk behind him just after I had spoken, and I felt my heart jump as I watched his lean muscles begin to twist tightly from around the bones of his wrist all the way up to his incredibly broad shoulder.  _Those shirts of his really needed to be made thicker...much thicker._

          “Maybe to Hermia, possible death is more favorable than that of marrying someone that she doesn’t love.”  Tom stated flatly as he kept his eyes intensely on mine, and then he tilted his head slightly in my direction.  I shrugged my shoulders as I twisted my hands together even tighter, and then I released a very labored sort of breath.

          “Well then Hermia is incredibly stupid.”  I said quickly, but in a slightly more hushed tone of voice than I had used just a moment before.  The female voices in the class around me (which once again was plenty more than half) gasped at my statement just as soon as it had left my lips, and they immediately began whispering while staring judgingly in my direction.  Tom’s eyes remained on mine as his smile unexpectedly widened, and then he nodded carefully once again in my direction.

          “Thank you for your thoughts, Miss Taylor.  Would anyone else care to share any of their insights?”  He asked as I once again sensed the room around me erupt in a sea of raised hands, but strangely enough, Tom’s eyes did not leave mine.  I felt slightly strange as my professor appeared to be studying me as if I was an unsolvable type of math problem, but thankfully after a few silent moments, he finally turned his attention to the room’s other side.  I released a breath as I listened to my dear friend Emily passionately begin to explain her incredibly romanticized view on the play that we were reading’s ridiculous first act, and then I silently prayed to god that I would somehow make it out of today’s class alive.   _You ignored the last prayer, God.  Please, listen to me this time._

          About twenty minutes after I had made my way out of my literature class thankfully somehow still in tact, I suddenly found myself on the third floor of the English Faculty’s main building, searching for the office that I so desperately did not want to actually find.  Hesitantly, I moved down the empty slightly dust covered hallway reading the names on the doors around me nervously as I went, and then I eventually turned a very sharp corner just before I was forced to stop in complete and total surprise.  There, just a few feet in front of me was the door to Professor Hiddleston’s personal office, and there also in front of me, stood nearly half of my literature class.  I swallowed thickly as I stared almost in shock at the line of girls waiting to get time with the man that I had been avoiding like the plague nearly every day since I had first met him, and then I quickly turned on my heels and began walking speedily the opposite direction.  I was quite certain that I needed more help than anyone that had been standing there in the hallway that day combined, but I was also certain that I wasn’t about to waste that many hours of my incredibly precious time.  I would somehow force myself to figure out the mystery to Professor Hiddleston’s class, even if I had to do it in my own incredibly stubborn sort of way.  There was just no way in hell that I was joining my teacher’s fan club just to pass a class that I hated anyway.  I really wanted to pass and finally graduate from school, but I also really treasured what I had left of my dignity.

          By the time that it had reached night fall after a very long early autumn day, I had finally resigned myself to the fact that I was simply not going to ever understand the allure of Shakespeare, and that I also might not be able to survive the unexpectedly intense level of Cambridge’s assigned course work load.  While my literature class had been the source of most of my headaches as of late, my law classes hadn’t exactly been going fantastically either.  The professors that I had seemed to assign a week’s worth of coursework every single night, and also unapologetically seemed to expect me to memorize chapters of books that I had never before even read.  I had so much work piling up around me that I could barely see around it, and my year abroad was beginning to look very bleak to say the least.

          “It’s after midnight, Lucy. Don’t you think that it’s time to give all this madness a rest for the day?”  Emma finally asked after a long silence between us as I suddenly noticed her standing close beside me now wearing her usual bright pink pajamas, and holding a blue cup of what I assumed to be tea.

          “I just need about another hour and then I’ll go to bed, I promise.  I just finished my Ethic’s assignment, so I just have a few more things.”  I said as I smiled and then allowed myself to yawn just slightly.  Emma nodded slowly as she sarcastically shook her head.

          “You are going to lose your mind if you don’t cut yourself some slack, Lucy, and you desperately need start getting some sleep.  Four hours doesn’t count as being rested, my love, and I need you refreshed for our first big Friday night.”  She said with an excited smile as she immediately reminded me that I had reluctantly agreed that I would go with her to a pub downtown this coming weekend, and that I had enough coursework laying just in my lap alone, that I knew that I honestly didn’t even have the time.  I sighed as I opened my mouth to protest my previously made agreement, but then closed it quickly as I immediately watched Emma quickly begin to shake her head.

          “No, don’t say it.  Don’t tell me that you can’t go because you have to study, because I won’t listen to any more of that foolish crap.  Friday night is not for studying, it is for drinking and making poor decisions, my darling.  Now, finish your studying quickly so that those dark circles under your eyes don’t get any bigger, and then take your pretty arse up to bed.  We are going out on Friday night, Lucy.  End..of...story.”  She said sternly as her bright blue eyes widened, and she so obviously had to force herself not to then once again brightly smile.  I sighed as I slowly nodded my head, and then raised my hands toward her in my usual complete surrender.

          “Alright, Emma, alright.  I will go drinking with you on Friday, don’t worry.  I have a feeling that I will need a few drinks if I actually survive this week, anyway, so I promise that I will be ready.”  I said with a smile as I quickly conceded as usual to my friend’s completely irresponsible, and most likely ill thought out wishes.  Emma nodded as her smile quickly returned to her face once again, and then she leaned down and quickly kissed the top of my head.

          “That a girl!  See you in the morning, love.  Remember, beauty sleep.”  She reminded sweetly, and with that Emma quickly disappeared down the other end of the main hall, and into her bed room for the night.

          About thirty minutes after Emma had so happily disappeared, the room around me was completely silent, and I found myself finally able to focus on the work that I so badly needed to complete.  Over and over, I read the words on the page in front of me silently inside of my head, but no matter how many times that I continued to reread them, they still made absolutely no sense to my incredibly overworked mind.  My head began to ache as exhaustion finally decided to set in, and as I finally lost my cool and slammed my hands down against my book in complete frustration, I heard the sound of someone loudly clear their throat from somewhere not so far away from me.

          “Are you so destructive with all of your textbooks, Miss Taylor?  Or is it only mine that you so obviously wish to destroy?”  The deep melodic voice of Emma’s brother asked from the entryway of the living room as I quickly lifted my eyes from my tortuous book, and then nearly fell instantly out of my seat.

          “I wasn’t…I don’t…I mean…”  I stuttered uneasily as I quickly straightened myself up in my large soft leather chair, and then pushed my now messily tousled hair away from my tensely held face.  Tom smiled brightly as he slowly walked into the room that surrounded me wearing a pair of black sleep pants and a white T-shirt that tightly clung to his incredibly toned lean form, and then he raised his hands up just slightly in my direction.

          “I was merely making a bit of a joke, Lucy, I swear that I don’t mean any harm.  How goes the studying, this evening?”  He asked as he nodded down toward the book that lay open in my lap, and then took a seat on the large brown leather sofa just to the right side of me.  I sighed as I attempted to somehow relax in my professor’s slightly intimidating presence, but I found it nearly impossible to accomplish my intended task. _As usual._

          “Um…it’s fine.  It’s just fine.”  I answered quickly as I smiled slightly uneasily, and then hastily tucked one of my pages of completely unorganized notes just beneath my book’s worn leather cover.  Tom nodded as he lifted one of his hands up to the side of his head, and then he rested his fingertips just lightly against the smooth skin of his temple.  He allowed his slightly tired appearing eyes to move over me slowly in a motion that caused my skin to warm strangely just over my tensed flesh, and then he released a slightly heavy sounding breath.

          “You are struggling in my class, Lucy, are you not?”  Tom asked as his voice dropped just slightly lower, and his tone softened as he said my name.  I tensed as I tried to think up a good lie so that I didn’t have to admit how badly it was that I was suffering, but then I finally released a very exhausted sigh.  _I just didn’t have the energy anymore tonight._

          “No, I am not struggling Professor, I am drowning.  I am hopelessly drowning in literature that I am pretty sure that most people understood back in high school, and I hate more than anything that I have to admit that to you.”  I answered much more honestly than even I had expected as I leaned back against the lush leather of the chair behind me, and then I dropped my hands helplessly back down into my lap.  Tom smiled softly as he kept his eyes tightly on my slightly frazzled stare, and then he shrugged his broad shoulders before he addressed my embarrassing confession.

          “Everyone learns differently, and everyone is interested in different things, Lucy.  You cannot compare yourself to those that are majoring in this field just as they cannot compare themselves to you in your law studies.  The question that I have for you, however, is that if you are struggling so much then why haven’t you come to me and asked me for my help?”  He asked as his smile slightly faded from thin lips, and his expression became much more quizzical than it had been before.  I shrugged slightly as I looked back down toward my book, and then released a still completely stressed out breath.

          “I don’t really like to ask for help when it comes to academics, Tom.  I was raised in a family where you had to figure it out yourself or you just didn’t figure it out at all.  Asking for help meant that you didn’t understand something, and if you didn’t understand something, well then that meant that you were stupid.”  I answered honestly and quickly as I felt my verbal filter quickly beginning to slip.  Tom sighed almost sadly still wearing his warm smile, and then slowly he once again nodded his head.

          “Asking for help doesn’t make you stupid, Lucy, it makes you ready to actually learn.  That entire premise is exactly why I have office hours.”  He said as his eyes widened slightly in my direction, and his smile became even brighter than it had been before.  I smiled as I shrugged my shoulders suddenly feeling my skin become warmer around me, and my breathing instantly quicken inside of my chest.

          “Yeah, well your office hours are harder to get into than a Bon Jovi concert, Professor.  I’m shocked that you didn’t have security present or at the very least your TA there so that they could guard your door or maybe even filter out some of the riff raff.”  I answered as my smile slightly widened, and I felt a small amount of color begin to flood through my cheeks.  Tom laughed lightly as I slowly lifted my eyes back up toward his, and then he shrugged his shoulders once again.

          “Literature is all about interpretation, Miss Taylor.  That raises a lot of questions that my students sometimes need more thoroughly answered than what I am able to provide for them in class.”  He said as his ocean colored eyes quickly met mine, and then immediately sent my blood moving faster through my veins.  _I swear those eyes were the most beautiful color that I had ever seen._

          “They don’t line up outside of your office so that you can answer their literature questions, Professor.”  I said as I felt my hands beginning to shake once again against the book that I held in my lap, and my palms begin to sweat just slightly against one another.  Tom tilted his head to the side as he watched me in what appeared to be confusion, and then he pressed his lips together in a tightly held line.

          “I take it that your law professors have a shorter wait than I do, Miss Taylor?”  He asked as his beautiful eyes burned intensely into mine, and caused my muscles to twitch beneath my skin from their silent unexpected power.  I shrugged my shoulders and smiled nervously as I twisted my fingers even more tightly together.

          “My law professors are mostly eighty year old retired judges, so yes, they have a shorter wait.”  I answered quickly as I laughed quietly under my breath.  Tom smiled as he nodded, and then he licked his lips painfully slowly as his eyes stayed firmly planted on mine.  _Please God, never ever let him do that again._

          “Well, I have absolutely no wait here, but yet you still avoid me like the plague.  What is your excuse for that, Miss Taylor?”  He asked formally with the hint of sarcasm now dripping from his lips.  I swallowed thickly as I released another breath, and then silently attempted to filter any of my possible answers that could be deemed even slightly inappropriate before they left the safety of my head.

          “I didn’t really think that it would be proper to assault you with questions regarding class while you were at home, Tom.  I wanted to respect the fact that you were officially off the clock.”  I said as I fidgeted slightly where I sat, and then tightened my grip on my still shaking hands.  Tom sighed slightly as he once again licked his incredibly soft appearing lips.   _Why could I not stop looking at his mouth?_

          “I’m salaried, Lucy.  I’m never off the clock.”  He answered slightly more sternly, but with the hint of something else just lingering at the edge of his deep voice.  There was a silence as I stared unintentionally into the gorgeous eyes of my literature professor, and then I felt myself beginning to speak without my prior knowledge or consent.

          “I don’t understand anything about what it is that you are trying to teach me.”  I admitted honestly as I sighed heavily, and then surprisingly felt a slight weight being lifted from my nearly broken shoulders.  Tom nodded slowly as he once again softly smiled at me.

          “I realize that.”  He said quickly, and with what sounded like complete understanding.  I sighed as I licked my full lips carefully, and then I finally lifted the book that still lay open in my lap slowly in my incessantly shaking hands.

          “I have read this over and over and no matter how many times that I read it inside of my head, it still makes absolutely no sense.  How Shakespeare writes is fucking impossible for me to understand, and all of the hidden romantic themes that all the idiotic girls in your class claim are all so obviously in there, well I honestly can't seem to find more than one.  I understand that everyone in this course is desperately trying to impress you so that you will think that they are fucking brilliant, but to be completely honest, I just want to pass.  Please Tom, just tell me how to pass.”  I pleaded quickly and with anxiety filling my voice that I hadn’t intended on allowing to so obviously slip out, but at this point I was nearing the point of complete desperation.  Tom stared at me with his bright eyes as he seemed to carefully process my slightly crazed rant, and then slowly he pushed himself up to his feet to stand.  I felt my body tense as he moved slowly closer toward me, and then I nearly endured a stress induced seizure when he finally sat down on the edge of the coffee table just a few inches from where I sat.  I sucked in a breath as Tom reached out and then incredibly gently retrieved the book that I held from my fingertips, and then I forced myself to release it as I prayed to God to somehow relax me.

          “Literature, poetry, and everything else that is inspired by emotion and not by logic alone is something that can be very difficult for some of us to truly understand.  Reading the same passage over and over hoping for a different outcome than you had five seconds before, well that is not going to help you to understand something that you cannot process in its entirety just inside the confines of your mind.  Shakespeare wrote based on human emotion and passion, Miss Taylor.  Those are two things that you just quite simply don't know a whole lot about.”  Tom began as he leaned forward slightly where he sat, and then carefully rested his forearms down onto the tops of his knees.  I felt my stomach tighten as his body came dangerously close to mine for the first time since I had met him, and then I forced myself to release a shakily tensely held breath.

          “I know plenty about human emotion, Tom.  I am in fact quite human.”  I justified quickly without actually listening to the words that my professor had originally said to me, and instead focused in on what I considered to be a very thinly veiled and incredibly articulate version of an insult.  Tom smiled as he sighed quietly, and then he tilted his head slightly closer toward mine.  _His nearness was becoming unnerving, and also strangely incredibly exciting._

          “We can only _know_  human emotion so much, Lucy.  Mostly, we need to give ourselves permission to truly feel the emotions that we harbor so deeply inside of us, and not force ourselves to judge ourselves for every single little thing. So with that being said, we are going to try something different in order to help you understand what it is that Shakespeare is trying to convey in his writing, and also to pull you out of the logic that is so obviously holding the reigns inside of your head.”  He said almost poetically as he lifted the book up slightly higher in front of him, and then motioned toward me with one of his large incredibly strong appearing hands.

          “Thank God!  Alright, lay it on me, Professor.  I’m ready.”  I said excitedly at the idea of actually understanding the material in which I had so desperately been struggling as I sat up immediately straighter in my large chair, and then I retrieved my pen from the notebook that was still sitting in my lap.  Tom shook his head slightly as he motioned down toward what I now held in my hands, and then he nodded down toward my now slightly chilled bare feet.

          “No Lucy, please put your notebook and pen down on the floor.”  He said quickly, and in the tone of voice that I recognized immediately from my very least favorite class.  I swallowed thickly as I felt my nerves flare wildly beneath my skin once again, but then reluctantly, I did what I had been told.

          “Now, I would like you to close your eyes.”  Tom said as he nodded toward me once again, and then leaned his arms forward slightly harder against his knees.  I swallowed thickly as I felt my eyes widen slightly without my permission, and then I watched Tom once again smile brightly in my direction.

          “I’m not going to hurt you, Lucy.  I simply want you to close your eyes, and to focus only on the sound of my voice.  Listen to the beat, to the tone, and to any emotion that you hear as I read these words.  Do not think, do not analyze, and do not attempt to formulate what it is that you are going to say to me when I am finally done.  Just listen to me, alright?”  He asked as he intently stared at me with his breathtakingly beautiful ocean colored eyes.  I swallowed thickly as I finally truly took in what it was that he was saying, and then slowly I nodded my head just before I replied.

          “Alright.”  I answered quietly, but to be honest, I was not at all confident in the task that I had so recently taken.  Tom nodded toward me slowly just after I had so uneasily answered, which signaled to me that it was now time to close my eyes. Hesitantly after a few moments, I obeyed my professor's possibly dangerous request of me and carefully closed my tired eyes.  My breathing immediately sped up inside of my chest the second that the room went dark around me, but I tried my hardest to actually listen, no matter how much it made me anxious to even attempt to try.

          “Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend more than cool reason ever comprehends.  The lunatic, the lover and the poet are of imagination all compact.  One sees more devils than vast hell can hold, that is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic, sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:”  Tom began in a low soothing tone of voice that immediately seemed to effortlessly calm my nerves as he read carefully from the page in front of him, and to what sounded like the beat of a strangely composed love song.  My heart fluttered as I listened to the words tumble from my professor’s velvet sounding lips, and my pulse pounded furiously deep within my veins as I found myself actually craving for him to continue.

          “The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling, doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven.”  Tom now almost whispered, and as I heard his voice slightly drop once again, I couldn’t help but slowly open my emerald colored eyes.  There, sitting before me sat my literature professor not even looking down at the page in front of him, but instead looking directly into my now open eyes.  I swallowed thickly as my gaze locked in on his without my conscious permission, and my body then moved unexpectedly closer, until my knees awkwardly collided with his.

          “And as imagination bodies forth, the forms of things unknown, the poet's pen, turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing, a local habitation and a name.”  Tom finished slowly and incredibly carefully as I sat lost in his eyes and the words that now surrounded me as I felt helpless to even attempt to move against them.  Tom licked his lips slowly as he continued to silently watch me, and then I felt his knees slightly begin to press even harder against mine.  I swallowed thickly as my mind screamed at me to immediately stop staring at my best friend's brother who was also my freaking professor, but my eyes just wouldn’t listen to the seemingly simple request that the logical part of me had so desperately made.  Tom tilted his head slightly in my direction as I watched his Adam’s apple drop lower inside of his throat incredibly quickly, and then his jaw tighten until it was nearly completely squared.

          “Does hearing that passage out loud sound any different to you now that you are not simply repeating it over and over inside of your own head?”  Tom asked as his words now came out in a silky soft whisper rather than his usual slightly formal tone, and an emotion filled his voice that felt almost palpable in the now incredibly late evening air around me.  I swallowed thickly as I nodded slowly still feeling as if I was in some sort of poetically induced trance.

          “Yes.”  I whispered softly on a breath that even to me sounded slightly broken, and then I swallowed once again against my throat's intense pain.  Tom nodded slowly as his eyes remained tightly locked in on mine, and his knees began to practically dig against my skin.

         “How does it sound different?”  He asked as the air around me began to suddenly feel incredibly thin, and the hair on my arms began to prickle strangely against my now completely goose bump covered flesh.

         “Um…it doesn’t just sound like words that are mixed around in the wrong order anymore.  It sounds almost like lyrics to a song, just lyrics that might need to be slightly decoded.”  I answered softly as I swallowed thickly once again.  Tom nodded as he watched me carefully, and then he slowly lifted one of his hands up to the soft skin of his delicious appearing lips.  My breathing immediately became labored, and my heart pounded so furiously that it was almost unbearably painful inside of my chest.  _Please stop making any more movements that involve your God forsaken mouth._

        “And how do those lyrics make you feel when you hear them spoken in another’s voice, rather than just the voice that you hear when you read them to yourself inside of your head?”  He asked softly as his eyes still remained intensely focused in on mine.  I swallowed thickly as heat rose from deep inside of me at his question that I truly did not know if I could honestly answer, and then I felt the color slightly drain once again from the flesh of my face.  Tom watched me carefully as I sensed that he had noticed my slightly intense reaction, but still, he did not say a word.

        “Different.”  I answered in a slightly breathless voice that I had never heard myself use before, and then quickly I cleared my painfully dry and tight feeling throat.  Tom tilted his head toward me, and suddenly he appeared incredibly interested in what it was that I might have to say in my answer to him.

        “How so?”  He asked in a tone that was filled with intrigue and anticipation.  I bit down tightly on my full bottom lip as I remembered being in class earlier in the day and watching nearly every move that Tom had made as he had been questioning me in front of everyone, and how similar to that moment that I felt right now.  I swallowed thickly as I attempted to correctly explain the feelings that were suddenly raging inside of me without sounding completely strange or psychotic, but then I suddenly spoke before I had completely formulated my answer inside of my brain.

        “It makes me feel like I am listening to something that is very unfamiliar to most of me, but that a part of me somehow understands it in a way that no one else could ever possibly understand.  It makes me feel like I am discovering something slightly hidden from the world around me, but yet something that if searched for, is so obviously there to be seen.”  I answered as I felt my skin begin to slightly burn against me as I noticed the expression on Tom’s face immediately begin to change, and an emotion move into his eyes that I did not recognize even in the slightest.  I swallowed against the lump in my throat that felt as if it had grown over the past few minutes as embarrassment moved immediately through me, and then I nervously waited for Tom to finally (and hopefully) reply.

       “Well, that certainly sounds like Shakespeare to me, Miss Taylor.”  He said softly as he dropped his eyes down toward my bottom lip that I was now fiercely biting, and then Tom licked his own lips quickly before he finally turned his gaze toward the living room’s far other side.  I felt all of the blood shoot back into my cheeks incredibly quickly as butterflies began to flutter low in my stomach inside me, and then I released a breath that I hadn’t even realized that I had forcibly been holding.

       “So, that is actually right?  That is what that passage really meant?”  I asked finding it hard to believe that I could have actually been correct in my first honest examination of one of Shakespeare’s passages, and also found myself slightly excited that my professor might have actually enjoyed what it was that I had said.  Tom smiled an incredibly beautiful smile in my opposite direction as he released a breath heavily from between his thin lips, and then slowly he finally pushed himself up to once again stand.

      “That’s what it means now.”  He said as he nodded down toward me, and then took a step back away from where I still sat.  I swallowed thickly as Tom's words seemed to seep deep into my bones, and then for some reason it felt as if they then immediately warmed my entire body around me.  Finally, I smiled as I forced myself to push the strange feelings that I suddenly felt down deeper inside of me, and decided that I more than likely really needed to call it a night.

     “Well, great.  Um, thanks for the help, Professor.  Maybe I will wait in line for your office hours next time that I have a question, after all.”  I said feeling more accomplished than I had in quite a while, and in turn, much more confident in my literary understanding than I had been just an hour before.  Tom shrugged nonchalantly as he moved slightly closer toward the living room entry way, and then he looked back carefully toward me.

     “You’re most welcome, Miss Taylor.  And, the next time that you have a question, you can skip the line at my office if you’d like.  The hallway is usually pretty empty upstairs in the evenings, and I'd have to say that the atmosphere is far more inviting without all those florescent colored lights.”  He said as he nodded slowly in my direction, and then finally he turned, and began to leave the room that now felt as if it was quickly closing in on me. 

      I felt my heart skip more than just a couple of beats inside of my chest as I carefully took in the words that my literature professor had so recently just spoken to me, and even though I could tell that his offer had not meant at all to be vulgar as some might have taken it to be, it had somehow created a sensation deep inside of me that made me feel incredibly uncomfortable to even attempt to explain.  I knew that I was most likely tired, and so obviously overloaded with romantic poetry, but as I stared desperately at the slightly mysterious man that was now slowly moving away from me, I battled fiercely with a strange new feeling that I simply could not seem to shake.  In that moment, I knew that I desperately needed to finally listen to my dear friend Emma, and that I immediately needed to get some long overdue quality sleep.  The indescribable and completely foreign fire that was practically scorching me from the inside out just had to be due to my most recent bout of lack in rest, and I knew that I needed to rid myself of it immediately if I was going to survive the rest of my frightfully hectic appearing school week. As quickly as I could I pushed the unfamiliar warmth that Professor Hiddleston had so swiftly inspired inside of me as far away from my mind as I could possibly manage, and then I thoughtlessly began to clean up the mess of my coursework that I had made earlier that night.  Right then and there, I promised myself that I would be more in control of myself than I had been previously when it came to my interactions with my best friend's older brother, and that I would stop allowing myself to be controlled by my incredibly foolish mess of completely unpredictable female emotions. The next time that I saw Tom, I would be nothing but aloof and completely professional as far as him or his stupid Shakespeare were concerned.  I would stop letting his annoyingly perfect beauty affect me, and I would completely forget about the strange connection that it felt that we had somehow just made there that night.


	5. Chapter 5

_“Did my heart ever love anyone before this moment? My eyes were liars, then, because I never saw true beauty before tonight.”_

_-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet_

* * *

 

 

 

 

            The soft rhythmic sound of a grandfather clock’s gentle ticking was the only noise that I could clearly hear as I stood silently in the small expanse of the upstairs bathroom, and stared skeptically at the strange appearing image of myself that reflected back at me from the quaint somewhat steam distorted vanity mirror.  My hair, which was usually forcibly straightened by intense electric heat or left in a mess of unruly waves due to my early morning’s laziness, was now hanging perfectly over my shoulders in neatly sculpted curls, and in turn currently contained more hairspray than even that of what I imagined a beauty queen on pageant day would have been able to so quickly use.  I was wearing more makeup on this Friday evening than I had most likely worn over the past ten Friday’s combined, and my body was unusually decorated with shimmering pieces of silver jewelry that actually quite beautifully complimented the metallic tracing which so precisely lined my suddenly sparkling emerald colored eyes.  My nerves were reaching max capacity as I watched the incredibly odd vision of myself continuing to breathe anxiously in the mirror before me, and my heart was pounding so roughly inside of my chest that I feared that it soon might make a serious effort at actually attempting to break free.  I had no idea how I was going to survive the socially awkward night that I assumed still lay ahead of me, or more importantly, how it was that I was not going to freeze to death in the outfit that I had been forced into wearing just an hour before by my incredibly overbearing (but of course good intentioned) best friend.  I had seen more material put into a child’s onesie than that of what had been put into my incredibly tight fitting dress, and to be completely honest, a onesie would have most likely given me a lot more coverage than what I currently (just barely) wore.  _Maybe if I could just sneak back into my bedroom for just one second and find something else to wear before Emma…_

            “Lucy, we are leaving in ten minutes, love.  Get your pretty little arse down here, and don’t you dare even think about trying to change your clothes!”  Emma yelled from downstairs as if she had somehow heard my inner ramblings out loud even from the distance of the living room where she so impatiently waited, and thus immediately brought me back to reality where I knew far better than to actually believe that any true escape from the small dress that I currently wore could ever honestly be made.

            “Come on, Emma!  You don’t honestly expect me to wear this out into public, do you?  If the cops see me they are going to think that I am a prostitute, and the last time that I checked, that was still illegal here in your country.  If I do something illegal then I am going to get deported, Emma.  You don’t want to be the reason that I get deported now, do you?”   I yelled back dramatically as I prayed that my friend would for once just have mercy on me when it came to her high fashion standards, and instead of punishing me by forcing me to leave the house in what appeared to be incredibly scandalous lingerie, would kindly release me back to my bedroom where I had a pair of designer jeans that I was entirely certain would be much more appropriate to wear for the evening’s occasion.

            “Lucy Marie Taylor, get down here right this instant or you are going to pray for deportation!  That dress that you are wearing is a Stella McCartney and it cost me five dates with a man that was twice my age, and less than half of my intellect.  I understand that you are more comfortable in sweats or those yoga pants that you swear are actually leggings, but that is just not how you dress when you go to a night club, especially not a night club that you go to with me.  Now, please darling get your beautiful little arse down here before I begin to lose my patience.  If I have to come up there after you, you are going to wish that I hadn’t.”  Emma threatened as I could hear laughter beginning to edge in her soft voice as she yelled up at me from what sounded like the bottom of the staircase, and then she stomped one of her small feet slightly childishly against the hard wood paneling that covered the main hallway floor as if to somehow even further attempt to solidify her point.   

            “This isn’t fair.”  I whined immaturely with a small smile now curving onto my meticulously painted rose colored lips as I finally stepped bravely out into the narrow upstairs hallway for the first time in the past sixty minutes, and then mournfully began to move slowly past my bedroom doorway that I so desperately longed to run through in hopes of still somehow attempting any sort of possible escape.  _But, I knew far better than to honestly believe that would work, so I simply kept walking._

            “Life isn’t fair, darling.  But, at least you get to enjoy its cruelty in a two thousand pound party dress.”  Emma called after me in her usual incredibly sweet sing song teasing tone as she referenced the cost of my borrowed dress that I could barely even walk in, and subsequently reminded me to be extra careful with any drinks that I would be having later on that night.  I laughed to myself at her candor as I hesitantly reached the top of the staircase, and then I finally released one last nervous breath before I shakily began making my way down toward my incredibly sarcastic friend.  Deep down I knew that everything would go fine that night as long as I at least somewhat attempted to keep myself relaxed, and if I also didn’t go too far with drinking like I thankfully only ever had twice before.  _Thankfully, I had learned my lesson regarding binge drinking early on as an undergrad…my incredibly painful lesson._

            It took me about two full minutes to carefully descend down the fourteen steps that eventually led to the first floor of my home away from home without gracelessly falling to my death in high heeled shoes that definitely did not belong to me, but when I finally did make it to the bottom safely, I was immediately met by a strangely silent Emma that was staring very unusually back at me.  The silence was almost deafening as my friend carefully studied me as if I had just arrived from an unknown planet, and the uneasiness that I felt in the pit of my stomach as she continued to examine me, well it seemed as if it was getting intensely worse with every single incredibly slowly passing second.  Finally, after what felt like an eternity of waiting for Emma to eventually speak up and tell me exactly what it was that she thought of me, I decided that I had to say something to her or I was going to go insane just from the uncertainty of the situation.  I knew that I just had to look absolutely ridiculous in the dress that I was quite certain that no woman with my wide set of hips should have ever been caught wearing, and I knew that my friend also obviously had to see that, especially since she now appeared to be rendered speechless just by my sudden presence.  _Maybe she would come to her senses now, and realize that this style just wasn’t for me.  Maybe I still had a chance at wearing my much more comfortable new jeans._

            “I told you that it would be too small for me, Emma.  I really appreciate the leap of faith, but I’m just not your size and I most likely never will be with these hips.  Now, please just be reasonable and let me go upstairs and put on some clothes that actually fit me.  I have a new pair of jeans that are super tight and make my butt look amazing.”   I pleaded pitifully as I attempted to ignore all of the possibly horrible thoughts that could have been floating around inside of Emma’s head, and instead focused in on my goal of getting out of the dress that I now felt as if I could barely even breathe in.

            “I don’t care if those jeans make you look like you’ve been dieting with Kim Kardashian, Lucy.  That dress was fucking made for you, and there is no way in hell that I am letting you take it off.  Christ love, you look fit.  Is that really what you’ve been hiding under all of those boring American clothes all these years?”  Emma asked in a suddenly excited sounding voice as she began slowly circling around me appearing to further inspect the appearance of my dress, and also the incredibly under exercised condition of my usually much more modestly covered body. 

            “Emma, we lived in the same dorm together for almost four years when we were at Harvard.  You know very well what I look like with and without my clothes on. Now, please stop torturing me and just let me go change into something… _anything_ …other than this.  I look completely ridiculous.”  I reasoned as I slowly ran my hands over the thin silken material of the deep plum colored dress that so tightly clung to my body, and then felt myself become once again consumed by my anxiety just as my fingers drifted across one of the small cutouts that revealed the flesh of my hip’s incredibly deep curve.  _I don’t care if Emma claimed that I looked good or not, there was no way in hell that I could actually wear this any further than the safety of her living room...no way in hell._

            “No time for changing, Miss Taylor.  If Emma doesn’t get to the club soon, all of the drama majors will be taken.”  I heard a very deep familiar voice that previously had not been involved in my battle for power suddenly say from the other end of the main hallway, and immediately cause my heart to jump up into my throat with a strong enough of a force that it quickly began choking me on impact.  My knees started to shake just as butterflies began fluttering dangerously low within my stomach just as they always did any time that the man that now stood before me was ever in my presence, and my heart pounded even harder inside of my chest than it had been just a few moments before. 

            “Oh, you are so incredibly amusing, Thomas.  Are you finally ready to go now after nearly an hour locked away in my bathroom, then?  I swear I can’t begin to even imagine what it is that you do in there for so long, and then still come out with that mess that you call hair.”  Emma quickly prattled sarcastically just as she swiftly made her way over to the hall closet thankfully moving further away from me, and then suddenly began hastily pulling out her dark colored jacket and incredibly stylish designer bag.  At her words, I finally lifted my eyes and completely took in the sight of her incredibly sarcastic older brother that had so recently (and not to mention also so unexpectedly) joined us.  About five seconds after that, I quickly wished that I wouldn’t have.

            My breathing was quick and my heartbeat was running rampant, but as I stood in the narrow confines of the downstairs hallway, I felt as if I was somehow floating on air.  There standing just a few feet in front of me smelling as if he had just stepped out of the shower and looking as if he had just walked out of a magazine, stood my best friend’s older brother who just so also happened to be my incredibly unnerving literature professor.  With his slightly wavy copper highlighted dark blonde hair that appeared as if it had just been freshly cut, and his bright ocean colored eyes that sparkled in the housing slightly dimmed lighting, the gorgeous man in front of me smiled wickedly as he took in his sister’s jab at him just before he finally shrugged his incredibly broad masculine shoulders in reply.  My heart moved faster as I allowed my eyes to finally move past the grand expanse of Tom’s upper body, and drift down over the rest of him that appeared as if it would burn me if I actually attempted to touch it.  Wearing a freshly pressed white T-shirt and slightly sheened tightly tailored midnight black pants, the man in front of me relaxed back on his heels as he slowly pulled his onyx colored sport jacket onto his lean delicious looking body, and then he shrugged the fabric almost perfectly into place with barely any movement at all thereafter it.  I felt my mouth begin to water as I continued running my eyes over the tall frame of the man standing before me that had been constantly on my mind ever since a few evenings before when he had first assisted me with my horrible literature assignment, and then I almost jumped out of my skin as I heard him abruptly clear his throat.

             “I am so sorry to keep you waiting, darling, but unfortunately we all cannot be as naturally beautiful as you.  Can I assume by your sharp tone that the two of you are finally quite ready, then?  I have been listening to you battle over your clothing for nearly the past hour, and even though it has been quite entertaining, I must admit the topic has grown tired.”   Tom retorted equally as sarcastic as his sister as he winked playfully in Emma’s direction once he appeared satisfied with how his clothing was laying, and then slowly he finally moved his eyes carefully over toward me.  My heart dropped quickly from the center of my throat where it had been choking me ever since Tom had first walked into the room just a few moments before, and then immediately crashed down into the pit of my stomach the second that his eyes finally met mine.   _Please stop looking at me like that.  I absolutely hate it when you look at me like that._

            “Well, pardon us for being such a bother.  Speaking of our battling though, Tom, will you please tell Lucy that she looks absolutely stunning in that dress?  She has been fighting me all night about wearing it, and frankly I am growing quite tired of her attitude.  It probably wouldn’t hurt if you threatened her grade or something as well.  I do believe that she might need some motivation.”   Emma said as she quickly flashed a devious smile at her brother, and then wrapped her dark jacket around her incredibly scandalously clad slender form.  I swallowed thickly as I finally lifted my nervous emerald colored eyes back up to meet Tom’s after having somehow managed to once again force them down to the floor, and then I released a very lengthy breath that it felt as if I had been holding ever since my literature professor had first entered the room.  _Tell her that I look bad so that I can change…please._

            “Lucy always looks quite stunning, but in this rare instance, yes I think that I would have to agree with my sister on the attire.  A simple pair of blue jeans would never be able to do your form justice in comparison to the vision that you are in what you are wearing right now.  My only concern, I suppose, is that you might quickly catch a chill.”  Tom answered incredibly smoothly as he kept his beautiful eyes on mine, and then smiled almost too warmly for my comfort back in my direction.  My heart immediately dropped so low inside of my stomach that I could feel my pulse beginning to pound roughly from just between my thighs, and my knees quickly felt as if they were made of jelly as I forced myself to continue to somehow stand upright.  What my literature professor had just said to me was the most eloquent and beautifully worded compliment that I had ever before received in my life, and the tone of voice that he had spoken it in sounded as if he was actually speaking it from the depths of his heart.  My heart pounded even harder as I felt my face quickly turn about ten different shades of crimson, and then most likely immediately thereafter, turn the palest shade of white.  _Professor Hiddleston, please never say anything like that to me ever again.  Please…_

            “Um…I don’t know.  I still feel kind of…”  I stuttered out very ungracefully from between my overly glossed lips as I began to fidget slightly where I stood, and then immediately began to once again avoid the ocean colored eyes that still watched me very intently, and now appeared quite amused by my reaction to his previous statement.

            “Tom, please stop flirting, it is quite unbecoming from a man your age.  Lucy, what my brother was honestly saying underneath all of that stereotypical British charm was that you look quite fit to fuck, darling, and so that is definitely the outfit for you.  Now, shall we go now since all of this has finally been settled?  I really don’t want to have to stand in line with the undergrads if I don’t absolutely have to.”  Emma said with heavy sarcasm once again as she moved closer toward the front door, and once again closer toward where I still very shakily stood.  My skin burned with embarrassment as I continued to take in my best friend’s completely unabashed words, and I also continued to avoid her brother’s eyes that were now practically burning hotly into my flesh.

            “Emma, you have never waited in line at Ian’s place, so please stop acting so incredibly put upon.  Just let me grab my wallet before you have a fit, and we can be on our way.  I don’t know if I can take any more of your incessant mewling.”  Tom said in a slightly exhausted tone as he quickly rolled his beautiful eyes, and then opened the closet door just after Emma had shut it, and reached in to retrieve his wallet that had been stuck inside another of his sport coat jackets.  My heart practically left my body at this point as I stood in what I was certain was a strange mixture of both anxiety and confusion as I attempted to comprehend what exactly I had just thought that I had heard, and then I finally found the courage to eventually speak just after I had nearly choked on all of my intended words.

            “You…are going with us…to the club?”  I asked in an incredibly shaky tone of voice as I stared at Tom with narrowed eyes, and quickly wrapped my arms around my now slightly chilled (and still barely covered) feminine form.  Tom smiled slightly devilishly as he ran his tongue slowly over the swell of his bottom lip, and then he nodded his head as he once again seemed quite amused by my reaction to him.

            “Well, I thought that I might tag along, Miss Taylor.  Of course, that is only if it is alright with you.”  He finally replied very sardonically as he matched my stance nearly exactly by crossing his long arms over the broad expanse of his stylishly clothed chest, and then he shrugged his shoulders slightly in return.  I swallowed as I quickly shrugged my shoulders as well, and then immediately dropped my eyes down to the floor beneath my feet.

            “Yeah, I mean of course it’s alright.  I guess I just didn’t expect you to want to go to a club that would be filled with a bunch of idiotic college students.”  I mumbled slightly quietly as I began to once again nervously fidget, and then I quickly lifted my eyes just as I heard Emma begin to laugh.

            “You didn’t expect a thirty-three year old man to want to spend his Friday night watching girls nearly half his age dancing around him in barely any clothes, and willing to do anything so that he will buy them their next drink?  Jesus Lucy, did you forget that he was _my_ brother?”  Emma asked as she laughed and then quickly handed me my jacket that she had retrieved from one of the hooks in the hallway just behind the front door.  I shrugged my shoulders as I quickly wrapped my jacket around my body, and then I tied the belt that was to be secured around my waist as tightly as it would go. 

            “I guess I just thought…”  I started anxiously, but thankfully, Tom interrupted my rebuttal with his usual melodic sounding laughter.

            “Actually, one of my mates from grammar school owns the night club that we are going to this evening.  I haven’t been in quite some time, so I thought that I would check in and see how he is doing.  Also…well, everything that my sister already just said.”  He answered with an incredibly suave smile, and a very flirtatious wink.  I laughed as I slowly nodded my head, and against my will I felt my tension begin to relax just a little at the almost adorable joke that he had just made.  _Tom just didn’t strike me as the kind of man that was anything like his sister._

            “Ah, well sounds fun.  Should we go, then?”  I asked as I turned back slowly toward Emma who was now standing just a few inches away from the front door, and was tapping one of her expensively dressed feet against one of the panels of the freshly polished wood floor.  Her head snapped up the second that she fully took in my question, and then she quickly began excitedly nodding her head in reply.

            “Yes, we should definitely go then.  Come on, Tom, we know how much you love that car.  Now, come show us how brilliantly you can drive it.”  Emma said quickly as she began waving erratically toward the door, and nodding almost violently at her brother.  Tom rolled his eyes as he began walking slowly behind me, and then he once again exhaustedly nodded his head toward his sister.

            “Alright, Mum.  I’m coming.”  He said sarcastically as I felt his body finally near mine, which in turn immediately caused me to speed up in my walking.  Emma rolled her eyes at Tom’s sarcastic comment, but for the first time that evening, she surprisingly didn’t respond with any kind of cleverly placed retort.

            A few minutes after the witty banter between Tom and Emma had finally finished and the house had been properly secured for the night, the three of us eventually made our way into Tom’s still quite breathtakingly beautiful midnight colored sports car, and began moving quite quickly in the direction of our evening’s destination.  As we travelled, I sat in the backseat quietly and listened to Emma and her brother argue back and forth about nearly everything under the sun that they could think of to possibly disagree on, and I also attempted to figure out why it was that for the past three days Ethan had not once answered his phone.  Now, I was in no way a controlling girlfriend or even the kind of person that believed in keeping tabs on another, but judging by how I was in a completely different country than that of my fiancé, I at least wanted to keep in contact with him as much as I could when we both had the opportunity.  I was almost entirely certain that the reason that I hadn’t heard from the man who honestly didn’t even answer his phone that often when I was in the same zip code was because he was in the middle of a trial that I knew had to be incredibly taxing, but the fact that he hadn’t even attempted to once contact me back, well that was just slightly irritating.  I understood that after a long day in court, the last thing that Ethan most likely wanted to do was spend time on the phone when he could instead be sleeping, but I also understood that we were scheduled to be getting married in just over a year’s time.  If my fiancé couldn’t even make the effort to make time to regularly talk to me over the phone when I was away in another country, well then how in the world was he going to find time for me when we were both working incredibly hectic schedules in the city?  Maybe I was just making too much of this, and maybe he was just too busy or it was the time difference that was messing him up.  I was certain that it wasn’t just that my fiancé simply didn’t have any interest in conversing with me or that I was now out of his sight and out of his mind, but instead that he was just tired and was focused more on his work than his fiancé that had flown off just a little over a month before to attend school in another country.  _This has nothing to do with you, Lucy.  Ethan is busy…deal with it.  Remember the promises that you made yourself before you came here._

            “Alright, love.  We are here.”  Emma finally said suddenly pulling me out of the confines of my mind, and returning me to the backseat of Tom’s car where I had honestly forgotten that I even was.  I swallowed thickly as I lifted my eyes to the window just to my right hand side, and noticed that we were now parked just in front of a very stylish appearing club that was swarming with people.  I narrowed my eyes as I took in the space around me that seemed as if it belonged in the center of the art district in New York City, and absolutely nowhere near a college campus where in all reality it actually was.

            “This is where we are going tonight?  This is where college students here go to party?”  I asked in disbelief as Emma helped me kindly out of the backseat with one of her thin beautifully manicured hands, and then settled beside me once we were both standing on the pavement just outside of Tom’s passenger side door.  Emma smiled widely as she nodded slowly toward the brightly lit main entrance which had a very long line of people waiting just outside of it, and then she pushed a handful of her pin straight golden spun hair slightly dramatically away from her perfectly made up face.

            “Yes darling, this is where we are going tonight, and yes this is where _some_ of the university students party.  Well, the rich students anyway.”  She said as she winked just after she turned her attention back toward her brother, who had just stepped out of the driver’s side of his car and was locking it up quite diligently before seeming comfortable enough to actually leave it.  I smiled as I watched him carefully, and then I narrowed my eyes just slightly as I saw the sign that towered just over his hood.

            “Tom, are you sure that you are supposed to park there?  It says that it’s reserved for management.”  I called as I pointed to the clearly marked sign that stared back at me, and then nodded toward my professor that now had a very wide smile on his gorgeous face.

            “Is that what is says?”  He asked with a slightly innocent expression as he continued to smile deviously in my direction.  I narrowed my eyes even further as I felt my skin beginning to heat once again just from the look that seemed to radiate from Tom's beautiful eyes, and then I turned back toward Emma in hopes that she could at least somewhat explain what it was that he was so mysteriously conveying.

            “Oh Tom, quit being such a smart ass.  Lucy, my brother is…minimally invested in this club along with Ian who is the owner.  I guess that since he signed his name on a few papers Ian figured that the least that he could do was to give him a proper parking spot or something.  Don’t rain on his parade though, it makes him feel _very_ important.”  Emma said with a smile as we eventually began walking toward the club, just as Tom finally strode up quickly behind us and sighed dramatically at his sister.

            “I did much more than sign my name, Emma, but let’s not worry about that right now.  Let’s get you girls inside so that you can get nice and bladdered, shall we?  Maybe if you two are wasted, then I won’t have to continue listening to all of this unnecessary sarcasm from my sister.”  Tom said as he laughed lightly, and then moved up closer toward my right side.  I smiled as I shook my head, and then finally stopped just as we reached the back of the incredibly long waiting line that appeared endless before us.  Emma kept walking past me without seeming to notice that I had suddenly stopped, but quickly, Tom slowed in his movements and then eventually smiled back toward me.

            “Darling, signing those papers also meant that I no longer have to wait in line.  Come on.”  He said softly as he leaned just a little too close to my ear for comfort, and then prodded my arm gently with his hand.  I smiled as I nodded uneasily, and then quickly moved forward in an attempt to put some much needed space between our far too close bodies.  _Personal space, Professor Hiddleston.  Personal space._

            A few seconds later, I finally caught up with Emma at the front of the line, and immediately grabbed a hold of her arm so that I could have someone… _anyone_ else to hold onto other than Tom.  Emma laughed as I assumed that she finally realized that I had been foolish enough to think that I actually needed to wait in line like everyone else, and then she nodded forward toward the club’s main entrance, where I noticed a tall man with almost white blonde hair standing ushering people inside.  Aside from his perfect hair and practically Viking appearing stature, the man just a few feet in front of us also had utterly flawless skin and was dressed in a suit that appeared to cost more than my college education in its entirety.  He smiled brightly at all of the women that moved past him on their way into the club with a set of perfect pearly white teeth, and he winked flirtatiously at nearly every person that met his eye no matter what their apparent figure or gender.  I smiled as I noticed a very familiar brand of charisma in the way that the handsome man carried himself, and then I felt myself jump suddenly as Emma unexpectedly tightened her grip almost painfully on my arm.

            “That is Ian Eddington.  He is six foot four, is insanely wealthy, drives a fucking Maserati, and I have heard that he has a dick that could break you in half.  He has been one of Tom’s closest friends ever since grammar, and I still swear that he is the entire reason that I began puberty two years earlier than all of the other girls at my boarding school.  He is the incarnate of every sin that is worth committing, and I have been hopelessly in lust with him ever since I was twelve.”  Emma admitted in quiet excitement against my ear as she silently introduced me to the man standing just a few feet in front of me that yes was quite attractive, but honestly just wasn’t exactly my type.  _His teeth were just a little too white for my liking.  Like they might glow in the dark or something strange like that._

            “Wow, Emma, that was…descriptive.  He is cute, though.  Why haven’t you gone after him if you are so crazy about him?  Is he gay or something?”  I asked as I carefully pried Emma’s hand off of my arm as she was beginning to cut off my circulation, and then I smoothed my hands over my jacket once again suddenly remembering the tiny dress that I had on just beneath it.  _Maybe I’ll just keep the jacket on all night.  It can’t be that hot in the club.  It was autumn, after all._

            “I wish he was gay, at least then I would know that no other slag could have him.  Unfortunately, Ian is into models and as beautiful as I am, I am just not quite on the same level of what he has grown accustomed to.  Fucking stuck up wanker.”  Emma cursed as her face immediately began to scowl, and her intense British accent that seemed to sometimes fade in and out, came in once again in full swing.

            “Oh Emma, please stop drooling.  It’s so unbecoming on someone your age.”  Tom joked with a teasing smile as he unexpectedly moved swiftly past me, and then walked immediately right up toward Ian as if he didn’t have a care in the world.  Emma stuck out her tongue at her brother in her usual dramatic childish fashion, and then the two of us reluctantly moved forward to where Ian and Tom were now hugging in a very masculine sort of way.    _Man hugs just always seemed somehow slightly violent to me.  All that smacking on the back and what not.  I assumed that there had to be some bruising of some sort involved after wards._

            “Tom!  It’s about bloody time that you made it back out here, it’s been ages!  I can only assume that I have the lovely Emma to thank for your visit tonight.  She has always been the kind of girl who loves a good party.”  Ian said with laugh as he finally released Tom from his grips, and then turned back to meet Emma’s eyes just as he winked playfully at her.  For the first time in the nearly six years that I had known her, I saw Emma blush brightly at Ian’s words, and then step back nervously toward me.  I smiled noticing how the roles seemed to be reversed from their usual casting, and then nudged my friend slightly in the back attempting to reassure her.

            “Relax, Emma.  He’s just a man.”  I whispered as I kept my smile tightly in its place, and then pushed both Emma and myself slightly forward once again.  Emma held her smile, but pushed back slightly against my body as I continued to attempt to further move her.

            “Oh darling, if you had only heard the stories.”  She whispered as the both of us suddenly moved forward once Emma finally unexpectedly had stopped resisting, and then I accidentally stumbled past her side and subsequently nearly landed directly in Ian’s arms.  _Oh, well this night was starting off just beautifully._

            “Oh pardon me, love.  And, who might you be?”  Ian asked just as he caught me gently by the side of my arm, and then looked down at me with wide slightly mischievous pale grey eyes.  Tom coughed loudly as I righted myself up where I stood, and then thankfully brought his friend’s attention back to his.

            “This, is Lucy Taylor.  She is the friend of Emma’s that I told you was coming to stay with us this year, and who also so unfortunately for her sake ended up in one of my literature classes.”  Tom explained as he nodded toward me, and then crossed his arms over his chest just before he relaxed back slightly on his heels.  Ian looked down at me as he ran his tongue over his full almost fake appearing lips, and then returned his gaze back to Tom’s.

            “This is the law student that has been living with you for the past month?”  Ian asked as he narrowed his gaze at Tom and then gave him a look that seemed to be masking either a laugh or something much more dangerous than mere amusement beneath it.  I swallowed feeling as if I was being talked about in some sort of code even though I was still very present in the conversation, and immediately felt my knees begin to just slightly shake beneath me as a result.  Tom nodded slowly as he widened his eyes knowingly toward his friend.  _Oh yes, they were definitely using some sort of code._

            “Yes, Ian.  This is Lucy, and yes, she is a law student.”  He replied as he nodded very slowly.  Ian nodded in what appeared to be sudden understanding, and then he quickly righted himself before he finally turned back toward me. 

            “Well, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, sweet Lucy.  I hope that you are enjoying England, and I very much hope that you enjoy my club.  Please go inside and make yourself at home, and have a wonderful night.  As always, drinks are on the house and if your professor gives you any trouble, well darling then you come find me.”  He said as he reached down and gently took my hand, and then raised it carefully to his lips where he then softly kissed the flesh just over my knuckles.  Emma giggled slightly as she watched my incredibly embarrassed expression, and then Tom rolled his eyes as he kept his eyes very firmly on Ian.  Finally, after a few seconds I pulled my hand back and nodded toward the very suave club owner before me, and then I wrapped my arms tightly around my once again chilled form.

            “It’s very nice to meet you too, Ian.  Your club looks amazing, and yes, I am enjoying England very much.”  I answered as politely as I could muster as I stepped back quickly toward Emma, and then smiled as soon as I finished answering.  Ian nodded toward me, and then turned back toward Tom.

            “It seems as if we have some catching up to do, mate.  I will see you inside a little later once I get through this line, but if you need anything before then, well you know that Diana will be around.”  He said as he smiled at his friend and then winked playfully.  Tom nodded as he made a slightly pained face at the mention of the unknown woman’s name, and then he laughed quietly at his friend.

            “I think that we will be just fine, but thank you.  Ian, enjoy your line of lovely ladies and I look forward to our chat.  Girls, shall we?  The vodka only gets weaker the later that the night gets.”  Tom called as he finally turned his attention back toward me and Emma just after he patted his friend slightly roughly on the back in what appeared to be a very masculine silent goodbye.  Ian nodded as he waved Tom away absentmindedly, and then Emma and I quickly fell in line behind her brother and began making our way swiftly into the club.

            “Let’s go get smashed, darling.  I need to forget that man and every other arsehole just like him, ever existed.”   Emma said as she winked playfully and then began moving just ahead of both me and her brother at a much quicker pace than she had been before.  I nodded as I began to feel slight anxiety wash over me as we finally entered the darkened club, and then felt fear swoop in immediately behind it as I suddenly noticed Emma moving away from my sight so quickly that I almost instantly lost track of her.

            “Emma!”  I called out over the nearly deafening thud of bass that was beginning to flood through my ears the further into the club that I moved, but no matter how loud that I attempted to be, Emma never had a chance at actually hearing me with how far away from me she had so quickly become.

            “Don’t waste your breath, Miss Taylor, she is long gone.  Come on, I have a table in the back that is much more favorable to the hallway, and slightly quieter as well.  Emma will be able to find us back there just as soon as she is done fluttering.”  Tom said against my ear as he suddenly appeared at my side, and then smiled kindly down at me from his still quite impressive height above me.  I nodded as I swallowed thickly, honestly thankful for him not leaving me as quickly as Emma had, and then I felt my heart almost completely stop beating just as I felt him suddenly reach down and very gently take my hand.   _Holy hell his touch felt warm..._ _  
_

“Okay, but….”  I started as I searched my brain for any words that made any sense at all to say to the man before me that would express to him how desperately I needed him to let go of my hand, but of course nothing logical came to my mind.  So, since I could not think of anything adult to say to get myself out of the incredibly strange situation that I had somehow gotten myself into, I instead decided to momentarily succumb to its incredibly seductive glory.  After a few moments of barely touching Tom's skin as he began to lead me further into the club, I finally allowed my fingers to wrap around his and I hesitantly gave myself permission to fully feel his touch.  My pulse vibrated inside of my veins as Tom's grip on me slightly tightened as he continued to move, and in that moment I knew that I was beginning to get myself into a lot of very unnecessary trouble. The night ahead of me felt as if it was already beginning to spin wildly out of control even though it had just barely begun, and I knew that my first step to saving it would be to immediately drop my literature professor's hand.  The big problem was that I honestly did not want to, and even worse for the first time since I had met him, I didn't feel like forcing myself to even attempt to try.


	6. Chapter 6

_“By the pricking of my thumbs,_  
Something wicked this way comes.”   
 _―_ _William Shakespeare, Macbeth_

* * *

 

 

            My heart throbbed heavily from deep inside of my chest as I slowly made my way further into the darkened night club that suddenly lay out before me, and desperately continued to clutch the masculine hand of my literature professor who I honestly knew that I should have honestly let go of nearly five minutes before.  The thick intense pounding of bass humming from speakers that felt as if they were being pressed directly against my skin invaded my ears as I once again pulled myself just slightly closer toward the man who so carefully led me through the crowds of glistening young bodies that surrounded us, and I couldn’t help but finally allow myself to slide my free hand up the length of his tightly held forearm, even though I knew very well that I shouldn’t have.  I swallowed thickly as I felt Tom’s grip on my hand slightly tighten just as my fingertips began to gently tickle the incredibly warm flesh that covered the now slightly bulging veins of his arm, and then I felt a familiar lump return to the center of my throat just as his fingers in turn began to ever so gently caress my now slightly shaking hand.  I knew better than anyone that I was balancing on a very fine (and also incredibly dangerous) line in that moment as Tom and I finally began to move away from the overcrowded dance floor that we had been foolishly attempting to navigate through for nearly the past ten minutes, but no matter how loudly my brain screamed at me to stop in my incredibly hazardous nonsense, I just couldn’t seem to bring myself to pull away.  The feeling of Tom’s secret touch just felt far too good against my skin to willingly allow him to stop, and the sensations that his fingertips were inciting so deeply and powerfully inside of me, well they were unlike anything else that I had ever felt before in my life. 

           “Well, there you two are!  I have been standing here for almost five minutes waiting for the two of you.  You honestly almost caused me to begin to seriously fret.”  Emma exclaimed dramatically as she unexpectedly interrupted my inner fantasizing by materializing out of what appeared to be thin air the second that Tom and I finally emerged from the crowds of sweaty young club goers that only moments before had completely engulfed us, and then suddenly jolted me back to reality where I immediately realized that I was still very tightly holding her older brother’s hand.  The second that my brain caught up with the rest of my system as to exactly what it was that I was doing in such a manner that others could actually see, I hastily dropped Tom’s long fingers from my grips, and then quickly moved away from him as if he was suddenly completely surrounded by fire.  Emma looked at me quite strangely as I nearly stumbled over my own feet in an attempt to put some much needed distance between myself and the man standing next to me who now appeared to be quite amused by my most recent behavior, and then she raised one of her perfectly arched eyebrows as she began examining me much like she had when we had been standing in her living room just a short time before.

            “Well, Emma, our sincerest apologies for causing you such worry so early on in the night.  I was so happy to see, however, that you were able to find some solace from your torment in familiar arms.  How is Jonathan doing these days, by the way? ” Tom asked both sarcastically and formally as he narrowed his eyes at his sister and then relaxed back slightly on his heels where he stood just about two arms lengths away from me.  Emma made a slightly embarrassed face just before anger eventually began to swiftly set in as she once again childishly showed her tongue to her teasing older brother, and then she quickly crossed her arms defiantly over her chest as she actually for once seemed to be completely at a loss for words.  _Well, this was new._

            “Who is Jonathan?”  I asked as I watched Tom smile to himself as he took in the very upset expression that was now practically consuming his younger sister’s face, and then finally I turned my attention back to Emma as she eventually began making her way toward the quite grand appearing table that sat just behind her and started absentmindedly searching for a seat.  _Those table and chairs looked more expensive than my first car._

            “Jonathan is a mistake that I made at sixteen, nineteen, and twenty-two and a half.  He is an arsehole if I have ever met one, but he is a glorious dancer and quite brilliant in the sack to boot.”  Emma answered with a slightly devious smile as she motioned for me to take the seat next to hers just as she began to lower herself down to sit, and then she laughed as Tom made a disgusted face at her as he too finally found a place to settle for the night.  _Which was thankfully all the way across the table from me._

            “Aren’t you old enough now to finally start learning from your mistakes, Emma?  Doesn’t it seem foolish to continue running head first back toward the same ill thought out schemes over and over again?” Tom asked with an honestly breathtaking smile as he reclined back casually in his seat, and then finally allowed his legs to move slowly apart in a very relaxed fashion that I barely recognized coming from him.  _God help me…please don’t sit like that._

“Head first is the best way to run back toward a scheme as delicious as Jonathan, Tom.  Honestly, it’s the only way.”  Emma quipped back saucily as she winked at me flirtatiously just before gently biting down on her slightly overly glossed bottom lip, and her answer of course caused her brother to once again make an incredibly disgusted appearing face in response to it.  _If their adulthood was like this, I truly pitied Emma and Tom’s parents for having to deal with them as children._

            “I think that is enough of that for tonight, Emma.  Let’s move on to more pressing matters like getting completely blitzed out of our minds, shall we?  What would you ladies like to start off with to drink tonight?”  Tom asked as he turned his eyes across the table toward mine, and then lifted his brow just slightly in question.  I shrugged my shoulders as I then turned my gaze toward Emma quickly attempting to shift Tom’s view away from me, and I prayed that Emma would just quickly make a decision because I honestly hadn’t had a real drink in longer than I could remember, and I was desperately needing a very strong one right now.

            “What do you think, Emma?  Beer?  Wine? A screwdriver?  Anything to get my mind off of school work will more than do just fine for tonight.”  I said with a small laugh as I briefly allowed my thoughts to drift back to the massive stack of coursework that I still had waiting for me on my bedroom desk, but I quickly banished the foul vision away nearly just as quickly as it had come, and reminded myself that tonight was my night to completely relax and not worry myself with things that I honestly knew that could wait.  _One night.  It was just one night._

            “Beer, wine or cheap liquor mixed with orange juice?  What is wrong with you, Lucy?  We are in a posh nightclub where we don’t have to pay for any of the drinks that we order, and yet you request the cheapest and weakest cocktails possible?  No, absolutely not!  That simply will not do!”  Emma exclaimed as she shook her finger at me as if I should have felt ashamed for my obviously ill thought out suggestions, and then she lifted one of her perfectly manicured fingernails up to her chin where she tapped it gently against her pale skin, and then appeared to momentarily lose herself in her incredibly derailed train of thought.

            “Alright, Emma, my apologies.  What would _you_ suggest, then?”  I asked as I relaxed back against the soft cushion of my seat, and then stared at my friend in quiet anticipation, just before I nearly jumped out of my skin when she suddenly screamed at what sounded like the top of her lungs in excitement.

            “I’ve got it!  You need a Leg Spreader, Lucy!”  Emma answered suddenly just as my face most likely turned about ten shades of crimson, and my palms began to immediately sweat just from the completely indecent force of her words.  Tom laughed as he shook his head very slowly at his sister, and then Emma’s eyes widened innocently as if she had no idea what our slightly shocked reactions could have possibly been about.  _Emma, you just yelled the words ‘leg spreader’ in a public place.  Some people just might find that slightly off putting._

            “Excuse me?”  I stuttered out quietly as I felt embarrassment quickly beginning to flood wildly over my system, and anxiety immediately once again take it’s incredibly firm hold on my mind.  Emma laughed as she took in my expression in its entirety, and then turned and also noticed the slightly abashed look on her brother’s face as well.  _At least I wasn’t the only one who found Emma slightly inappropriate some of the time…okay…a lot of the time._

            “The Leg Spreader is a drink, love.  It’s got raspberry something or other in it, and enough liquor to knock your socks or honestly anything else that you might want off for that matter as well.  Plus, it’s purple and it will match your dress.  Speaking of, please get rid of your jacket, you look absolutely ridiculous wearing that in here.”  She explained as she motioned toward my body in annoyance with one of her long thin hands, and then made a very dissatisfied face that quickly caused me to realize that she definitely meant business.  I sighed as I felt my anxiety rise quickly inside of me once again at the thought of being so publicly exposed in such a revealing dress, but then I reluctantly finally removed my coat just as I had so unkindly been instructed to do.  Tom’s eyes fell to my suddenly exposed flesh the second that I had my jacket tucked safely just beneath my chair, and his gaze warmed my skin in such a way that it caused my bones to ache and my mouth to water in response to the sight of it.  His stare was slightly dark as his ocean eyes moved painfully slowly over the parts of my body that had so recently been concealed, and his hand suddenly moved to his hair as he ran his fingers in an almost frustrated fashion through his short copper colored waves.  I swallowed thickly as I kept my eyes almost unwilling on the man that sat watching me from what now seemed like the other side of the night club, and then I felt goose bumps immediately cover the entire expanse of my skin as Tom then carefully dropped his hand that had previously been in his hair down to his deliciously hungry appearing mouth.  Slowly, he ran his fingertips just lightly over the smooth flesh that covered his lips, and as he did so, his eyes drank me in as if I was a fine wine and this was his first time tasting me.  Tom gaze never moved over any indecent areas of my body as he continued to look at me, including that of my chest which honestly surprised me, but instead over the more delicate simple areas of my form that most others would have most likely initially ignored.  My lips, my neck, my shaking hands, and even the curve of my side that eventually disappeared behind the small table between us were some of the main places on my form that his shimmering pale eyes wandered to before he finally once again settled back on my stare that had honestly never even for a moment left his.  I took in a very deep shaky breath as our gazes locked for a second and in that moment I knew that I was in far more trouble than I had truly realized before.  I hadn’t for a moment been offended as I most likely should have been when my literature professor had run his eyes so passionately over my form, instead, I had truly enjoyed the way that his stare had seemed to silently appreciate my body that as of lately I had actually grown to slightly hate.  The way that Tom had looked at me made me feel sexy and wanted to for the first time in quite some time, and now unfortunately, I suddenly wanted far more than for him to just merely take me in with his stare.

            “Well, you would pick the most crudely named drink that one could think of, now wouldn’t you Emma?”  Tom asked as his usual charismatic smile once again took ownership of his beautiful face, and then his eyes quickly moved away from mine and back toward his sister.  I released a slightly relieved breath as I felt my heartbeat slowly beginning to return to its normal pace, and then I watched as Tom absentmindedly raised his hand up into the air just before he then dropped it back down onto the polished oak table that sat before him.  I narrowed my eyes attempting to figure out what exactly it was that he had just so swiftly done, but then suddenly my question was answered for me just as a new person unexpectedly joined our group.

            “Well, look what the cat dragged in?  Finally take a break from all that hard work that you have been doing, _Professor_?  Decide to slum it down here with the rest of us again just like you used to?”  A woman with bright crimson colored hair, and light brown eyes suddenly asked loudly from Tom’s left hand side as she seemed to somehow magically appear out of thin air beside him just after he had first lowered his hand back down onto the table in front of him.  Tom smiled to himself in what almost appeared to be pain as he slowly lifted his head from where he had been looking at his sister, and then he finally met eyes with the woman staring down at him with an almost excited expression on her face and her breasts pushed up so far that I could have sworn that they were attempting to touch her chin.  _The British version of Victoria’s Secret must have had much stronger under wiring than what they made in America._

            “How could being in the same place as you ever be considered slumming it, Diana?”  Tom asked in an incredibly smooth tone of voice as he slowly pushed himself up to stand, and then very warmly embraced the woman standing so happily before him.  Emma rolled her eyes as she watched her brother and the woman that he was now holding closely begin to speak quietly to one another as they continued to embrace, and then she slowly leaned closer toward where I now slightly uncomfortably sat beside her.

            “That little delight is Diana Browning.  She has been nipping at both Ian and my brother’s boot heels ever since they opened this place a few years ago.  I honestly believe that she would have them both at the same time if they would let her.  Disgusting slag.”  She explained slightly venomously as she sighed heavily and then rolled her eyes dramatically once more in the direction of the woman that she had just been so lewdly speaking of.  My gaze widened as I stared back at the woman that was now gently rubbing Tom’s arm as he continued so closely speaking to her, and strangely, it made me feel incredibly irritated to see the obviously unnecessary gesture.

            “She looks pretty friendly with your brother.  I take it they have…”  I started as I waited not so patiently for Emma to finish the nightmarish vision that I already had playing out inside of my head, but Emma instead made a face in pure disgust, and then immediately began shaking her head.

            “Lucy, please!  My family does have standards, you know?  No, they have not done any of that whatsoever.  Tom is far too picky with his women to go for her.  She just isn’t his type. Honestly, she isn’t any self-respecting man’s type.”  She said dismissing my comment immediately, and then once again shaking her head in what appeared to be complete disapproval of even the idea of what I had just recently said.

            “What is his type, then?  Models like Ian?”  I asked sounding slightly annoyed, but secretly, I did very desperately want to know exactly what type of women it was that Tom went for when it came to his intimate relationships.  I knew that even asking such a question was incredibly destructive considering the millions of reasons why I shouldn’t have cared even in the slightest, but I couldn’t help myself from still asking just the same.  Emma finally shook her head as she leaned back slightly against the back of the red velvet cushion behind her, and then she quickly licked her lips before responding to my incredibly ill thought out query.  _It felt as if I was actually suddenly going out of my way to get into trouble._

            “No, Tom doesn’t like incredibly thin girls, so he never really got on with the sort of women that Ian would bring ‘round.  He has always gone for softer women that are very feminine and have lots of curves.  He’s very physical when he is dating someone, which completely grosses me out, and so I guess he doesn’t want a bag of bones since he is so disgustingly handsy.”  She answered as she shrugged her shoulders just slightly and then returned her gaze back toward her brother.  I took in the appearance of the woman standing just beside Tom, who was now running her bony little fingers all over the exposed flesh of his forearm that had been revealed when he had pushed up the sleeves of his sport coat just a few moments before.  Diana was incredibly thin, but had large breasts which possibly could have been fake, and her laugh was incredibly superficial and sharp as she appeared to concentrate very intently on what it was that Tom was saying to her.  _Did fake boobs compensate for being built like a twelve year old boy everywhere else, and having a laugh that could have quite easily broken glass?  Was there a grading system or something for things like this when it came to men?_

            “Also, Diana is dumb as a post, so Tom would never even contemplate putting his knob anywhere near her.  I have never understood why he insists on only bedding brainy girls, even if it’s just a casual thing, but I have never seen him with anyone who didn’t so much as at least even attempt at out witting him first.  All of his girlfriend’s back in school were always at the head of the class, and all of the ones that he has had since then, well they have had pretty impressive careers.  I doubt that he is going to all of a sudden start messing around with waitresses that haven’t even finished secondary school just because they bat their fake eyelashes at him, but that sure won’t stop Diana from trying like she does every single time that she comes near him.”  Emma finally finished as she turned her attention back toward me and then smiled slightly sourly just after her last word finally left her still perfectly painted lips.  I nodded carefully taking all of the new information in that I had just been given, and then I carefully moved a handful of my curled sandy colored hair just over my shoulder. 

            “Well, I see that you are back with your sister again, that is lovely.  I don’t recognize this beauty though, Tom.  Something that you have forgotten to tell me?”  The woman that I now knew to be Diana suddenly asked interrupting Emma and my conversation and turning our attention forcefully back toward her just as she pointed one of her long fingers directly at me.  I swallowed thickly as I noticed the light brown eyes of the woman standing before me staring almost menacingly back at me, and then I finally turned my eyes up toward Tom praying that he would explain me quickly so that she would stop looking at me in such an off putting sort of way.

            “My apologies.  Diana, this is Lucy Taylor, my sister’s dearest friend from America.  Lucy, this is Diana, a very close friend of both mine and Ian’s.”  Tom finally corrected as he nodded toward me and then back toward Diana.  I smiled as I slowly pushed myself up to stand and then carefully extended my hand toward the woman that was still staring at me far too strangely for my liking.  Diana nodded as she watched me for a moment and then she very slowly ran her eyes curiously over my form.  I swallowed thickly waiting for her to return my gesture, and then finally she slid one of her long thin hands into mine just before she squeezed my fingers just a little too tightly against hers for my comfort.

            “It is nice to meet you, Lucy.  How are you enjoying England so far?”  Diana asked in a slightly cold tone as she stared back at me, and once again ran her eyes slowly over my still barely dressed body.  I smiled as I nodded enthusiastically, and then carefully released my grip on her hand so that I could take a much needed step backward.  _This woman looked crazier than a bag of cats._

            “It is amazing, I love it.  Everyone is so nice, and welcoming here.”  I said in what most likely sounded like a very naïve tone of voice, but honestly I didn’t care judging by who it was that I was talking to.  Diana nodded slowly as she appeared to very intently take in my few words, and then she finally turned her attention back toward Tom.

            “Welcoming, hmm?  Tom, I can only assume that means that you are as always being a very generous host?”  She asked in a low tone that sounded incredibly suggestive as she stepped back toward him and then carefully lifted her obviously drawn on brow in his direction.  Tom rolled his eyes slightly as he began to once again sit down in his plush crimson hued chair, and then he finally shook his head very slowly in reply.

            “Actually, I am fairly certain that Lucy would be far more content if I was not her host at all.  See, Lucy here is a law student that is finishing her studies at Cambridge, and aside from being forced to live with me due to a slight mishap involving my sister’s former roommate, she has also unfortunately ended up in one of my literature classes.”  He explained as he smiled a very small smile in my direction once again, and then carefully nodded his head just after he had finished speaking.  I suddenly found it quite strange how both times that Tom had introduced me that night he had made sure to mention that he was one of my professors, and that he was quite certain that I didn’t enjoy that fact.  I wondered if I had made him feel like I didn’t like him or that I absolutely loathed the entirety of the class that he taught?  _Well Lucy, you did tell him on the first day of the term that you hated Shakespeare and didn’t have use for his entire department whatsoever.  That most likely did not make him feel all warm and fuzzy inside._

            “I find that hard to believe, love.  I am quite certain that all of your students feel very lucky to have you for that class or for anything else for that matter.  I know that I would love to learn anything that you would be willing to teach _me_.”  Diana purred incredibly seductively as her eyes once again met Tom’s, and in turn immediately interrupted my inner ramblings yet again.  My eyes widened on instinct at the brazen nature of the woman who was standing so unashamed before Tom practically begging him to take her right then and there, but both Emma and Tom simply rolled their eyes in what appeared to be annoyance, so I assumed that this was quite common place behavior for a woman such as her.

            “Rein it in, Diana, it’s still early.”  Emma practically groaned as I could tell that she had finally grown tired of the woman that was so helplessly throwing herself at her brother, and also at the woman’s mere presence at our table at all.  Diana immediately scowled as she turned her attention quickly toward Emma for almost the first time of the evening, and then she crossed her arms slightly angrily over her incredibly ample (and still quite fake appearing) chest.

            “Emma, be nice.”  Tom corrected under his breath as his eyes widened knowingly at her, and then he nodded very carefully in her direction.  I swallowed as I felt a slight shiver move through my body at the stern tone that I recognized immediately from my literature class, and then I very slowly lifted my head.  _Time to get drunk.  I can’t take this anymore._

            “Can I get a drink by any chance, please?  I don’t really care what it is, but I just really need a drink.”  I said breaking the tension that had so quickly begun to form all around us as I stared at Diana desperately as if my life depended on her answer.  Diana’s expression almost seemed confused as she stared back at me appearing to attempt to decode my very simple request of her, and then she finally took in a very long deep breath before she eventually responded to me.

            “Excuse me?”  She asked carefully as anger began to flood just somewhat through her slightly raspy voice, and then she once again narrowed her eyes as if she hadn’t understood my question.  I looked at Emma for a short moment in complete confusion, and then finally back toward Diana as I assumed that my query had been quite self-explanatory in its meaning, but regardless, I foolishly attempted to explain myself yet again.

            “I was wondering if I could get a drink, if it’s not too much trouble.  You are a waitress, aren’t you?”  I asked staring at the woman standing before me now feeling quite confused myself at my current situation.  Diana’s expression changed in the span of a second as she began scowling at me just as she had Emma a few moments before, and then her lips suddenly tightened together into a very hard pressed line.  I stared at the woman wondering what it was that I had said that had so obviously upset her, and then I turned and noticed both Tom and Emma smiling very knowingly to themselves.

            “Yes, darling, I am a waitress.  I will go get your drink, and be right back.”  She said coldly and then in a second she disappeared behind Tom toward what appeared from the distance to be the bar without saying so much as a goodbye to her darling _Professor_ , and in turn also released a string of curse words from between her thin crimson lips as she ignored about five other patrons who were attempting to gain her attention as she now so angrily moved.  Finally, I turned my attention back to the other two people sitting at the table around me, and then raised my brow as my confusion still continued to so wildly swirl.

            “Did I say something wrong?”  I asked carefully.  Tom smiled as he slowly shook his head, and then he leaned forward just slightly against the table that sat between us just before he finally began to speak once again.

            “No, darling, you didn’t.  Diana is a very…unique sort of woman.  She doesn’t like to be reminded that she is actually here to work and not socialize, and she also never likes any woman that comes here with either Ian or myself.”  He explained carefully as he smiled very warmly in my direction.  I nodded slowly as I took in the words that he had spoken, and then I carefully cleared my suddenly aching throat.

            “Well, you should probably set her straight then, Tom.  I didn’t come here with you.  I came here with Emma.”  I said very matter of factly as I stared back at him, and then nodded intently toward him without allowing myself to smile at all.  Emma laughed as she quickly covered her mouth with one of her hands, and then I watched as Tom once again brightly smiled in my direction.  His eyes stayed locked in on mine as I finally smiled in return against my better judgment realizing that I had most likely just sounded slightly bitchy, and then he carefully nodded his head in return.

            “I will make sure to do that, Miss Taylor.”  He said slowly, and the way that he said my name suddenly made my stomach feel as if it had butterflies once again occupying it just as I had slightly earlier in the night.  I had never met a man before that could completely upset my entire nervous system just from a few simple words, and I had definitely never had any experience with a man who could leave me breathless just from staring at me in the manner in which he currently did.  _What was it about this man that was so different?  Why especially ever since a few days before did I feel so incredibly drawn toward Tom?_

            Finally after a few minutes of casual conversation and joking, Diana eventually returned to our table with three drinks in her hands, and absolutely no smile on her tensely held face.  She set down my scandalously named purple drink in front of me roughly, nearly spilling it all over my dress, and then she hastily dispersed the other two drinks between Tom and Emma just the slightest bit more kindly.  She said a few hushed words to Tom just before she finally once again took a very abrupt leave, and then eventually we were free of her nonsense at least for the immediately foreseeable future.  The three of us sat talking and laughing for what I imagined to be the span of about thirty minutes without an imaginable care in the world, and then suddenly, I felt a soft hand touch the bare skin of the back of my shoulder, catching me completely by surprise.  Immediately, I turned around almost as if I had been attacked, and then I unexpectedly looked up and into a pair of soft hazel eyes that I remembered instantly the second that I saw them.  My heart jumped up to life inside of my chest once again as my mind completely took in the person that was standing before me, and then my words began to shake just slightly as they nearly fell off of my now lightly trembling full lips.  _Oh, what fresh hell was this?_

            “Lucy?”  The shocked sounding voice of the only friend that I had in my entire Shakespearean Literature class asked as she stared down at me in her tight midnight colored cocktail dress, and very skeptically took in my incredibly different appearing form in what appeared to be complete and total surprise.

            “Emily, it’s so good to see you.”  I said finally as I pushed myself up to stand and then put my arms around my friend slightly uneasily wondering how strange it was about to look that I was in a dance club late at night with our literature professor that she had no idea that I had actually been living with ever since the school year had first began, and who she had in fact been quite in love with ever since her freshman year.

            “It’s good to see you too.  Wow, you look amazing, Lucy.  I barely recognized you.”  Emily responded with a smile as she gave me a slightly back handed compliment, and then finally she turned her eyes to the table behind me and took in the rest of my group.  _And, 3…2…1…_

            “Holy shit!”  Emily exclaimed as I watched her skin turn about five different shades of both rose and crimson just before she took a small step back and suddenly grabbed me by the arm pulling me forcibly alongside of her.  _I suddenly felt as I was in middle school all over again, and I really hated middle school._

            “Holy shit!  Lucy, is that...?”  She both cursed and asked frantically in a slightly hushed voice as she stared at Tom as if he couldn’t see her, even though he was plainly looking her directly in the eye, and most likely could also hear every single thing that she had just said.

            “Good evening, Miss Watson.  You look lovely as always.”  Tom said in a very dry even tone as he nodded toward Emily carefully, and then reached down and retrieved his drink from in front of him on the table once again.  Emily blushed once again as she smiled shyly, and then she shrugged her shoulders slightly in our professor’s direction.

            “Um…thanks…you do…too.  I didn’t know that you came here.  I definitely didn’t know that you came here with…”  Emily began once again as she turned her eyes suspiciously back toward me, and at that, I once again felt my nerves come almost violently to life beneath my skin.  Tom smiled as he seemed to almost enjoy watching me suffer in silence, so since he seemed to refuse to come to my aid just one last time, I decided that I would just be forced to save myself in this incredibly awkward self-created situation.

            “Oh no, I came here with my friend, Emma.  Tom…um…I mean…Professor Hiddleston, is her older brother so that is why we are here…together.”  I stuttered out very ungracefully as I attempted to swallow against the lump that had once again taken up residency deep inside of my throat, but of course my effort was completely moot in its effect.  Tom smiled as he continued to watch me struggle, and of course, he continued to remain silent no matter how badly I was honestly drowning before him.  _Come on, be a freaking English Gentleman.  Help me!_

            “Oh, well that is…nice.  Um, do you mind if we join you guys?  We just got here and we can’t find anywhere to sit.”  Emily asked with a wide smile as she began to inch her way slightly closer toward our table, and further away from the direction in which she had originally came.  I felt my nerves spark painfully beneath my flesh once again as I noticed quite a few tables surrounding us that still had plenty of open seats, but of course I hadn’t needed to look around at all in order to know that Emily had been lying for a much more personal cause than just to simply sit down and get off of her feet.

            “We?”  I asked quietly as I searched the area surrounding Emily seeing absolutely no one that appeared to be with her at all, but then quickly had my question answered for me just as a tall slender man stepped up from her left hand side, and clearly into my terrified view.  _Oh sweet Jesus, what had I done so wrong in a past life to deserve this torture?_

            “Emily, there you are.  Who are…?”  The incredibly uneasy voice of Mr. Benjamin Dickson called out from Emily’s side just as he stepped up into plain view before me, and then quickly took in the sight of both the table behind me and also of course myself who now stood incredibly awkward before him.   _Apparently Cambridge was a very VERY small town, after all._

            “Miss America?”  Benjamin asked as he stared back at me with wide slightly shocked appearing eyes as he allowed his gaze to run very slowly over me, and then he licked his thin lips almost pornographically just after he had finally completed his disgusting action.  _Eeww…. Just Eewww…_

            “Hi, Benjamin.  How are you?”  I asked taking in the full view of Tom’s teaching assistant that I honestly hated seeing every day in class, let alone during my time away from it when I considered myself to actually be free.  Benjamin smiled as he ran his eyes carefully over me yet again, and then he crossed his arms over his chest just before he licked his thin slightly chapped lips just one last time.  _Oh, please don’t look at me like that.  You look like an absolute pervert when you look at me like that._

            “I am doing well, Lucy.  It appears as if you are also doing _very_ well...very well indeed.”  He said as he continued to leer at me creepily as his eyes practically ravaged my body, and then he finally smiled as soon as he eventually returned his gaze up to actually respectfully hold my stare.  I crossed my arms over my chest as I took a small step back away from Benjamin slowly, and then I surprisingly watched as Tom swiftly found his way up onto his feet.  _Now he gets up._

            “Mr. Dickson, why don’t you and Miss Watson have a seat and order yourselves something to drink.  I think it will be easier for everyone to chat when we are all sitting.”  Tom suggested in his slightly stern classroom tone as he nodded toward Benjamin with an almost ice cold ocean colored stare, and then he carefully turned his attention back toward me.  I smiled as I released a very relieved breath slowly, and then I very carefully mouthed a silent heartfelt _thank you_ to Tom for getting Benjamin as quickly away from me as he had.  Tom smiled a warm beautiful smile as he nodded back toward me slowly as well, and then he mouthed the sexiest _your welcome_ that I had ever in my life before seen.  _I really needed to have a few more drinks.  There was no way that it was normal for a woman to get so worked up over such trivial things as a man’s mouth moving in her direction._

For about the next about forty-five minutes, the five of us sat at our small table in the back of Ian’s night club, and chatted as if we were all old friends who had been reunited after a very long time apart.  Emma got herself acquainted with our two new guests by asking them countless questions regarding their taste in music, favorite celebrities, and of course their favorite clothing designers.  Benjamin recounted his tragic existence of being the teaching assistant to a professor who refused to let him even so much as grade a paper without his direct attention even though he believed that he was quite capable of working on his own, and then Emily began speaking about her love of Shakespeare and how truly lucky that she felt to be in a class with a professor as incredibly brilliant as Tom.  I tried not to roll my eyes too obviously as I listened to the girl beside me practically praise the man that was sitting before me directly to his face, and I also tried not to acknowledge that during the entire time that she was speaking, the man that she was speaking about was staring directly at me.  _God, his eyes were beautiful._

            “And, I am so glad that we are studying _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ right now.  It is one of my favorite plays, and I find it incredibly romantic as a whole.  I feel bad that Lucy doesn’t seem to like it, though.  It really is quite good once you really get into it.”  I suddenly heard Emily say as I rejoined the conversation at least partially at the mention of my name, and then forcibly tore my eyes away from Tom’s.

            “Um…It isn’t that I don’t care for it, Emily.  It’s just that I guess I just don’t see it in the same way that everyone else does.”  I said honestly as I reached down for my drink and realized that my glass was once again unfortunately empty.  You know for Emma saying that my drink had a lot of alcohol in it earlier, I had yet to feel its fantastic effects.  _Knock your socks off, my ass, stupid Leg Spreader._

            “No offense, Lucy, but everyone else sees it for what it is and that is a very romantic piece of literature.  You seem to see it as…well, I guess I don’t completely understand what it is that you see it as.”  Emily said slightly cattily as she shrugged her incredibly slender shoulders and then pushed a handful of her dark hair away from her slightly angular young face.  I turned my eyes toward the girl sitting beside me very quickly as I felt anger beginning to stir just slightly inside of me, and then I swallowed thickly attempting to rein in my quickly growing upset before I said something that I couldn’t take back.

            “I see it as a work of fantasy that every girl in Professor Hiddleston’s class is taking to heart because they think that if they swoon when he speaks, then he will give them an A.  I would rather get a C and answer the questions truthfully, than get an A and be a complete and total fake.  If that means that I am different from everybody else, then I guess so be it.”  I snapped slightly more harshly than I had originally intended as I noticed Emma smile to herself as she dropped her eyes down to the table just before slowly shaking her head, and then Emily’s eyes widen the second that I finally finished speaking.  I immediately felt embarrassed for my slight emotional outburst as I realized that I might have possibly hurt Emily’s feelings, and then I turned my head to notice Tom looking at me with slightly darkened stormy eyes.  I couldn’t exactly pick out the emotion that was attached to the look that he was currently giving me, but I could tell that surprisingly it wasn’t one of anger.  _Hmmm…one point for honesty._

            “We don’t take Shakespeare to heart because we want a good grade, we take it to heart because it is something that we are passionate about, Lucy.  That is why most of us are majoring in the subject.  You are about to graduate in order to become a lawyer, correct?  Aren’t you doing that because it is your passion?  Because it is a field that you are passionate about?”  Emily asked not sounding nearly as angry as I had expected her to be, but instead sounding more curious about my initial intense reaction and exactly why it had occurred at all in the first place.  I shrugged my shoulders as I ran my tongue over my lips incredibly quickly, and then I once again dropped my eyes down to my nonexistent drink that still sadly sat emptily before me.  _I really hoped that Ian wasn’t paying Diana very much because her waitressing skills had quite a lot to be desired._

            “I don’t know if I would say that I am passionate about law in the same way that you are about Shakespeare, but I would say that it’s always come very easy to me and that I am also quite good at it.  I guess I would say that is the main reason that I have continued on in the field.” I answered honestly and also quite quickly.  Tom’s eyes remained on me, and his gaze lightened slightly as he raised his fingers quickly into the air and then dropped them once again back down to the table.  _Well, despite this horrible conversation, at least I was about to finally get another drink._

            “So, you are becoming a lawyer just because it’s easy for you and you do it well?  You aren’t perusing it because you enjoy it or because you find it rewarding?”  Emily asked curiously.  That was when it hit me for nearly the first time in my entire life.  Emily was completely and totally right.  I wasn’t becoming a lawyer because I wanted to be one or even because I wanted to help people who had fallen under the injustice of the system.  I was becoming a lawyer because thinking logically had always come incredibly easy to me, and because I had never even thought to attempt to challenge something that I had so automatically simply always done.  _Well, that didn’t sound like a very good reason at all._

            “I find law very interesting, but no, I wouldn’t say that I find it incredibly rewarding.  Is that a bad thing?”  I asked honestly suddenly feeling very stupid and also slightly attacked by the literary intellectual who was apparently staring down at me from her incredibly high horse, and looking at me as if I was a complete idiot for my response to her.  Emily shrugged as she then turned her eyes toward Benjamin who was now staring directly at my chest most likely not paying any attention to our conversation at all, and then she finally returned her eyes back toward mine.

            “No, Miss Taylor that is not a bad thing.  I do believe, however, that this conversation would be best saved for a time when we are not all supposed to be relaxing and at least attempting to have a good time.  Emma, do you have any ideas on how to make this evening a little less…stuffy than it has quite recently become?”  Tom asked as he turned toward his sister with a suddenly devilish grin on his face, and a very wild look in his eyes.  Emma’s eyes immediately lit up with happiness as she nodded toward her brother as if they were discussing a secret between just the two of them, and then she turned her stare very quickly over toward me.

            “Shots and dancing!  Lots of shots and lots of dancing!”  She said excitedly as she practically beamed with light from her every pore, and exuded a happiness that just a few moments before had simply not been there at all.  I laughed as I watched her joyful expression that I honestly loved almost more than life itself bloom into that of pure bliss, and then I turned my gaze slowly back toward Tom.  He was smiling quite brightly as he finally also turned his eyes toward mine, and then he settled on my stare as soon as our gazes met.  I smiled appreciatively as I contemplated mouthing him a _thank you_ once again, but this time I simply kept my mouth shut.  Instead, I just smiled warmly at the man sitting before me, and I attempted to not get lost in his beautiful eyes while I did it.  A task that I was finding harder and harder with every single passing day.

            About twenty minutes after Tom had so valiantly rescued me from the painfully thought provoking conversation that had centrally revolved around his class, I found myself dancing happily in the center of the night club’s crowded dance floor, and smiling as if I didn’t have a single care in all of the world.  Emma, Emily and Benjamin all danced close beside me as they too all also smiled brightly practically from ear to ear, and we all laughed together at a forgotten joke just as the liquor eventually began to take its incredibly firm hold.  Emma and I laughed as we began dancing more closely together as we sang lyrics to a song that we both just so happened to know, and Emily moved very suggestively in front of Benjamin while at the same time keeping her distance just in case a certain professor happened to gaze in her direction.  I smiled at her stolen glances toward the opposite side of the room as she unknowingly led the apparently love starved teaching assistant behind her on with her scandalous moves, and then I too finally snuck a secret look in the room’s other direction where she had so obsessively been staring.  There, on the farthest facing wall stood Ian and Tom as they so happily appeared to be talking together, and there just about five feet away from them stood the incredibly annoying waitress Diana, who was also quite hopelessly staring.  I wasn’t sure what it was about the two men that had nearly every woman that came near them practically drooling at their feet, but I was quite certain that it was much more than simple good looks and charismatic smiles that drew us all so helplessly toward them whenever they did so much as even speak.  _My mother would have most likely said that they had superficial allure that weak minded women would always be attracted to.  I would have said that they had swagger that any woman with working ovaries was forcefully pulled to._

            “You are quite the talented dancer.”  Benjamin suddenly called over the music as he moved behind me quite unexpectedly as I finally forced my eyes away from the two men that I had quite honestly been gawking at, and then he began dancing much closer to me than he had been a few moments before.  Emma’s eyes widened as she attempted to hide a smile the second that she noticed him, and then I felt her hands slip around the sides of my hips just before she very gently began to pull me closer.

            “She’s all mine tonight, lover boy.”  She joked as she pulled me nearer toward her once again, and thankfully a much safer distance away from Benjamin.  I laughed at my friend’s words as I moved even closer toward where she moved yet again, and then I continued dancing along with the incredibly upbeat music as I prayed that the man behind me would take the hint and simply return to Emily.  _Of course, Benjamin was not the type of man that would so easily take a hint… Whatever had I been thinking?_

            “Well, that seems unfair.  Come on Lucy, let’s have a dance.”  Benjamin said as he slithered up behind me once again, and then settled dangerously closer to my body than he even had been before.  I swallowed thickly as I noticed a man that I didn’t recognize suddenly begin to talk to Emma and therefore steal her attention away from me, but I attempted to remain calm just the same.  _I was a big girl, I could handle myself just fine without Emma’s intervention._

For the next few minutes, I continued to attempt to dance away from Tom’s disgusting teaching assistant, only to then have him end up even closer to me than he had been before.  I attempted to excuse myself to go to the bathroom more than once only to have him pull me back toward him, and then finally he got brave enough to wrap his disgustingly clammy hands around my hips, which in turn caused me to nearly gag from its effect.  My skin began to crawl as I turned back toward the corner of the crowded club where I had been watching Tom and Ian converse only a few moments before, but suddenly they had both disappeared and now seemed absolutely nowhere to be found.  I groaned as I felt Benjamin begin to grind himself against me, and then I almost vomited when I felt the press of his incredibly inadequate erection against the ample flesh of my behind.  _Alright, enough!_

            “I think that it is time for me to go find Emma and Emily, Benjamin.  Thanks for the dance, but I think that we are finished.”  I said abruptly as I moved as quickly and as far away from Benjamin as I could and his sad little joke for a penis, and then I half-heartedly smiled as I continued expediently moving away.  Benjamin opened his mouth as if he was about to say something that he thought would possibly convince me to stay, but I was already long past gone.  I could withstand a lot of things after going to Harvard for six years and dealing with the train wreck that was my mother, but a disgusting man pressing his small intimate bits forcefully against my ass, well that was where I just had to draw the line.

            About three songs, four shots, and five angry glances from Benjamin later, I found myself dancing with Emma and Emily once again in the center of the dance floor and actually honestly enjoying myself for the first time of the night.  The three of us danced happily as we twirled, grinded, and sashayed our hips wildly together, and we sang along as loudly as we could to the songs that played so melodically above us as if we actually knew them.  By this time both Tom and Ian had found their way back onto the dance floor from wherever it had been that they had originally disappeared to, and now Tom was being just slightly forced to dance with Diana who appeared to be having the time of her life.  Ian laughed loudly at his friend’s incredibly unfortunate fate as he danced with a very young appearing blonde woman just to my right hand side, and Tom made hilarious facial expressions every time that Diana attempted to grab his hand.  So, instead of allowing her to pull him close to her like she was so obviously trying to do, Tom instead moved around the dance floor as if he was Michael Jackson performing in a music video and he showed off his incredibly impressive skills to anyone who would watch him.  I found it almost unbelievable that a thirty-three year old literature teacher from Cambridge could move like a twenty year old pop star, but I knew that it had to be real because I was most certainly seeing it so amazingly happen before my very eyes.  I laughed as I watched Diana’s expression of happiness finally turn to that of annoyance as she finally began to give up in even attempting to keep up with Tom’s incredibly energetic pace, and then at the sound of my laughter, I noticed Tom abruptly turn around toward me. 

            “Are you laughing at me?”  He asked in a light happy tone that sounded utterly contagious as he danced skillfully toward me, and then flashed one of his breathtaking smiles.  I shook my head as my smile grew even wider in response to his, and then I finally leaned slightly closer toward his incredibly quickly moving frame.

            “Of course not, Professor.  I was simply admiring your dancing skills, that’s all.  Oh, and I was also finding it slightly humorous that your partner couldn’t quite seem to keep up with your…pace.”  I answered slightly flirtatiously with a smile as I winked playfully in Tom’s direction.  Tom’s smile grew even wider as he moved closer toward me once again, and then he lowered his head down even nearer toward my face.

            “Well, then it seems that I need a new partner.  You up for the challenge, Miss Taylor?”  He asked as he immediately offered me his hand, and then slightly narrowed his eyes as he awaited my reply to him.  I smiled as I nodded the second that a new song came on, and then I carefully slipped my fingers gently over Tom’s palm just before I accepted his request.  _Just one dance.  One dance would be harmless._

            “Absolutely, Professor.”  I said and just as the slightly upbeat pop song began to ring out from over our heads, Tom led me out toward the edge of the dance floor, and much further away from our friends.

            For the next four minutes, I was in a constant state of laughter that honestly hurt my sides to endure.  Tom twirled me around the dance floor as if we were gliding on air while I applauded his every incredibly skillful movement, and we sang along to the song as if we were the one’s meant to truly sing it.  Tom laughed as he quickly caught me more than once just before I spun into someone that I didn’t know and nearly spilled their drinks all over them, and I nearly knocked him over a couple of times as I misjudged his distance from me as we so excitedly moved.  I had never had so much fun in all of my life as I did as we danced along the side of the dance floor with others stopping to watch us occasionally and smile at our incredibly amusing view, and I had never felt as free as I did when I danced in Tom’s arms.  The mood was light and there was absolutely no tension as we kept a safe distance from each other and laughed at ourselves for being so silly, and the alcohol that coursed through my veins made it even easier for me to enjoy my good time and not worry about any issues that could possibly come.  Then, after the four minutes had ended and the song that we had moved to had as well finished completely, the mood slightly changed and the tension immediately returned to the space between us.

            “Thank you for the dance, Professor.”  I said breathlessly with a small smile as I took a few steps back away from Tom just as a much slower R&B song began to thump over the sound system, but then I was quickly stopped just as Tom very slowly moved closer and gently touched his fingers against the side of my hand.

            “I don’t suppose that I could be lucky enough to steal just one more before you sneak back to the table, now could I, Miss Taylor?”  Tom asked in a tone of voice that was much lower than the light one that he had been using a few moments before, and with a look in his eyes that was much darker than that of when we had been so happily dancing along the edges of the dance floor.  I swallowed thickly as I took a very small step closer toward him almost unwillingly, but I did not allow myself to look completely in his eyes just yet.  _Say no, Lucy.  You know deep down that you need to say no._

             “Sure.”  I whispered in a slightly squeaky voice as I attempted to swallow once again against the lump that had so quickly formed deep inside of my throat, and then I mentally screamed at myself for giving in so incredibly quickly, and without even the smallest semblance of a fight whatsoever.  Tom smiled a very small incredibly sexy smile as he reached out and gently wrapped his long fingers around the outside of my hand, and then he slowly pulled me tightly into his arms as his touch practically now caressed my skin.  _This dance…this dance did not feel harmless at all._

            My heartbeat echoed loudly inside of my ears as Tom pulled me painfully slowly against his warm incredibly strong feeling body, and then dropped one of his hands down to the deep curve of my waist.  He tightened his grip on me slightly as he moved my hip carefully in motion with his in order to sync our movements steadily together, and then he settled his other hand just over the curve of my opposite side.  I swallowed thickly as I lifted one of my hands to rest just lightly on the expanse of Tom’s left shoulder, and then I bravely set my other hand at his hip as I slowly pulled his lower body just slightly closer toward mine.  My pulse quickened inside of my veins as I felt Tom’s hand slide slowly from my waist carefully up the side of my body, and then slip just beneath my chin where he then gently lifted my head.  Our eyes met as he then lowered his hand just slightly to my neck where the slightly roughened pad of his thumb gently began to massage circles into my incredibly overheated skin, and then his other hand that still rested at my waist eventually dropped just slightly to the supple flesh of the swell of my hip.  I swallowed as he pulled me slightly closer to him once again, and then he squeezed my flesh hungrily in his hand just as I felt the silent vibration of a deep groan begin to teasingly dance across my skin.   Hundreds of incredibly graphic images raced through my mind as sensations that I had never felt before rushed up from deep inside of my body, and then eventually settled painfully between my thighs where I could now quite roughly feel my heart beating against my skin.  Quickly without thinking, I turned the front side of my body away from Tom as panic began to slightly move over me, and then I gently pressed my back tightly against his form at least turning my face away from his sight.  _I just didn’t think looking at him was exactly a good idea anymore._

            “Would you rather us go sit down?”  Tom asked softly against my ear as he distanced himself just slightly from the back of my body, but still continued caressing the side of my hip just lightly with his fingertips.  I shook my head as I pressed myself back against him just a little bit harder, and then I slowly eventually closed my eyes.  _May Harvard and my mother forgive me, this just felt far too good to stop._

            The bass of the song that we continued to dance to was incredibly heavy, and so was Tom’s breath as it seductively hit the delicate skin on the back of my neck.  My heart hummed wildly from deep inside of my chest as I subtly ground my hips back against Tom’s as we continued to so slowly move, and then I lifted one of my hands up from in front of my body, and carefully wound it up around the back of his overly heated feeling neck.  Tom’s hands became slightly hungrier as I pulled him even closer against my body, and even though I was quite certain that we looked just the slightest bit inappropriate in our seductive movements, I strangely wasn’t the least bit uncomfortable at all.  I loved the way that the tightly formed muscles of Tom’s chest and stomach molded against my back almost as if they had been sculpted in such a way so that they so perfectly fit there, and I reveled in the feeling of his heartbeat as it thudded against the back of my shoulder almost in rhythm with mine.  The feeling of the man that had made me completely on edge ever since the moment that I had first met him was completely intoxicating as he moved so closely against my skin, and the way that his hands so gently explored my body, well it made my insides tremble but yet beg desperately for more.  A few seconds later, I felt one of Tom’s hands slip down over the curve of my hip and to the top of my thigh where my dress finally stopped and ever so gently he grazed his fingers against the outside of my leg’s delicate skin.  I closed my eyes for a moment as I felt an ache that I had honestly never felt before settle deep within my core, and then that ache only proved to intensify as Tom then moved some of my long hair away from the side of my slightly dampened face.

            “You are quite an impressive dancer for a law student.”  He whispered with a slight edge of humor in his voice as he pulled my body even tighter against his, and then laughed lightly against the sensitive flesh of my ear.  I smiled slightly to myself as I circled my hips very slowly just as I began to once again feel butterflies, and then I tilted my head to the side so that I could once again see Tom’s beautiful eyes.  My breath immediately caught in my throat as I suddenly saw the same desire radiating from his stare that I felt so intimately deep inside of my body, and the realization that we could have possibly been feeling the same way…well that was slightly alarming to me.  _Lucy, you need to go back to the table.  You have a fiancé, remember?_

            “Thank you.  You are quite the dancer yourself, especially for a professor.”  I said as I laughed shakily and then felt one of Tom’s hand run up the back side of my arm that I had extended up around his neck, and then I felt his fingers incredibly gently run back down my now goose bump covered flesh.  _Oh sweet Jesus, please do that again._

            “Yes well, I haven’t always been a professor.  Believe it or not, I once had quite the social life.”  Tom said as he slid his fingers up my side, and then softly tickled the exposed flesh of my side that Emma’s dress just hadn’t quite covered.  I breathed out as I stifled a groan, and then I felt my heart nearly explode as Tom wrapped one of his arm’s tightly around the front of my body and pulled me so close against him that I could feel every part of him pressed hungrily against every part of me.  Every…single…part...  _My God…_

            After what felt like the shortest most intense lifetime that I had ever lived, the song that Tom and I had been dancing to finally ended, and my gorgeous literature professor finally released me from his incredibly addictive feeling arms.  I backed up slowly as if I had just been stunned while I hungrily continued to stare at him, and then I attempted to swallow my desire as quickly as I could as I silently thanked him for the dance once again.  Tom nodded as he stared at me with still completely lust consumed eyes as I nervously moved away from his body, and then I suddenly caught the eyes of Emma, who was staring back at me from our table where she silently stood.  With crimson colored cheeks and a sense of guilt that felt as if it was suddenly plaguing me, I hesitantly returned to my friend who was smiling brightly as she so carefully watched me move closer toward her.  I swallowed thickly as I finally reached the table that we had been sitting at only an hour before, and then I quickly retrieved a shot glass that was sitting filled to the brim just on the table’s edge.  Before Emma could stop me (or ask me any questions that I honestly did not want to answer) I shot the drink back quickly and swallowed the foul tasting liquid in pain as it seared my tender flesh on the way down my throat, and then I dropped the empty glass back down onto the polished wood where I had originally retrieved it.  Emma smiled as she crossed her arms slightly questioningly over her chest, and then she narrowed her pale eyes skeptically in my direction.

            “That was Bacardi One Fifty-One, Lucy.”  She said still wearing her bright shining smile as she allowed her eyes to briefly drift to the space behind me where I could only imagine that her brother now stood, and then she slowly returned her gaze to mine just as she appeared to silently prepare herself for some sort of social inquisition.  I shrugged my shoulders as I acted like I knew what the drink that she had mentioned actually was, and then I ran my fingers quickly through my now completely disheveled mess of sandy colored hair.

            “I don’t really care what it was, Emma.  I just really needed a drink.”  I said with a sigh as I absolutely refused to turn around just in case Tom was in fact standing there, and then I once again attempted to at least slightly smooth my mess of waves and curls from away from my face.  Emma bit down on her lip gently as she continued smiling widely in my direction, and then she leaned just slightly closer toward my most likely still completely flushed face before she finally once again spoke.

            “Do we need to talk about anything, darling?  In this particular case, I do believe that I would absolutely love to hear anything that you would have to say.”  She said in a slightly quiet excitement as she raised an eyebrow in my direction and then nodded back behind me toward where I imagined Tom to most likely be.  I immediately began shaking my head, and then straightened myself up as if I was suddenly completely in control of my obviously ridiculously insane self-created confusing situation.

            “No, there is nothing that we need to talk about, but I do think that I need a break from dancing.  I’m going to go get some air, alright, Emma?”  I asked as I quickly turned toward the door back door that I had seen a few people leaving from a few moments before, and I also continued to completely ignore the man that I was now completely certain was standing directly behind me. 

            “Okay, love.  Do you want me to go with you?  This neighborhood is relatively safe, but I hate to send you out into the dark by yourself.”  Emma said as she smiled warmly, and then moved slightly closer toward where I stood.  I shook my head quickly as I took yet another step toward the back doors, and then I once again pushed my hair away from my now sweat soaked face.

            “Thanks, Emma, but I will okay.  I think I just need a moment to breathe.”  I said with a smile.  Emma nodded as she held her sweet smile perfectly on her face as I began moving away from her, and then just as I finally made it out of the back door and into the fresh midnight air, I watched as she slapped Tom quite roughly in the side of his arm as he laughed quite mischievously.  _I wondered if those two would be like this even when they were eighty._

 The slightly chilled late autumn air that flowed so freely around me gently caressed my skin as I made my way incredibly slowly over the broken cobblestone sidewalk that lay just beneath my feet, and generously helped to just slightly relax me for the first time of the night.  I released a deep and lengthy breath from between my lips as I allowed my pace to become even more leisurely as I continued to move, and I also desperately attempted to force the most recent completely indecent thoughts of my literature professor as far away as I could from my now incredibly chaotic young mind.  I had known ever since the night had first begun that going out to a night club with Tom would most likely be one of the most foolish decisions that I had ever made, but I could have never even begun to imagine how completely out of control my night would have eventually become.  Why was it that I was allowing myself to act so incredibly impetuously when it came to my interactions with Emma’s older brother?  Why was I not fighting the overwhelming feelings that I had so recently begun to have for him, and focus instead on my fiancé that was waiting for me to return home to him so that we could get married next fall?  Why was it that I acting like a love sick teenager, instead of the strong minded woman that my mother had raised me to be?

            “Ian…”  I suddenly heard a woman’s soft whisper call from somewhere off in the distance just as I quickly pulled myself out of my inner ramblings once again, and then immediately directed my attention to the darkness that now completely surrounded me.  Carefully, I searched the seemingly empty grounds that encaged the outside of Ian’s club, and then I finally silently scolded myself for obviously having had far too much to drink.  _I was completely alone in the back of a club after dirty dancing with one of my professors, and I was now starting to hear voices inside of my head.  Maybe I should have googled what Bacardi One Fifty-One was before I had so quickly drank it._

“Mmm…Ian, please.”  I heard the same soft voice that I had first heard only moments before now practically beg just on the edge of what sounded like a broken moan, and as I turned in the direction that I was now certain the quite real sounding plea had come from, I felt my eyes widen as I carefully took in the vision that unexpectedly lay out before me.

            There just about fifty feet away from where I stood covered in the shroud of shadows that the night’s incredibly alluring crescent moon had provided, stood the beautiful blonde woman who had been dancing beside me earlier in the night on the very overly crowded club dance floor, and knelt down before her was her incredibly charismatic partner, and the very owner of the club himself.  My heart immediately began to hammer from deep inside of my chest as I took in the vision of the woman who now instead of dancing was firmly pressed against the cool brick of the outside of the club’s wall, and was desperately clutching the shoulders of the man who appeared to be desperately devouring the heat that had once been so innocently hidden between the center of her thighs.

            “Ian…fuck.  You are such a bad boy, aren’t you?  Such a bad bad boy…”  The woman trailed off slightly as I watched her bite down painfully hard onto the fullness of her wet appearing bottom lip, and then roll her hips incredibly slowly up against Ian’s incredibly hungry appearing mouth.  I suddenly heard a groan vibrate from deep inside of her throat as she appeared to lustfully stare down admiring his work, and then I watched as Ian slowly pulled back away from his date, his lips glistening with her taste.

            “Yes, darling, I am.  But, you are quite the bad girl too, now aren’t you?  Acting so scandalously in an alleyway with a man that you barely know.  Whatever would your mum think right now if she were to see you, Ariana?”  Ian asked hungrily as I watched him very slowly run his tongue over the swell of his bottom lip and then groan very low within his chest as he swallowed thickly shortly thereafter.  The muscles of my body tensed tightly as I felt my core become dangerously wet, and the ache that had earlier come to life deep inside of me, beg for any form of sweet release.

            “My mum is very far away, Mr. Edington.  I can be as bad as I want to be tonight.”  Ariana practically purred as I watched one of Ian’s hands slowly move up the inside of one of her thighs, and then slip gently between her legs until she whimpered quietly with delight.  Ian’s hand twisted slightly as I heard the woman above him moan once again, and then I felt my knees begin to shake as I watched him carefully push two of his fingers carefully inside of her.

            “Mmm…is that so?”  Ian groaned deeply as I watched his hand press slightly harder against Ariana's core, and then begin to very slowly rhythmically move just as her eyes began to roll back slightly inside of her head.

            “Ian…Fuck Ian, don’t stop.  Please don’t stop.”  Ariana began to beg as she pressed her hips slightly harder against Ian’s hand, and then rotated her hips until she appeared to begin taking him in just the way that she so desperately wanted.  A very animalistic noise escaped from Ian’s lips as he seemed to increase his force just slightly, and then he moved his lips closer toward her now violently shaking body once again.

            “Mmm…are you going to come for me baby?  Are you going to let me taste just exactly how sweet you are?”  Ian asked as he began just lightly breathing against Ariana’s inner thigh and pumping his fingers inside of her as if he was making love to her with his incredibly skilled appearing hand.  Ariana yelped loudly as she began frantically nodding her head, and then she slowly reached one of her hands down and tangled it in Ian’s white blonde hair.

            “Fuck yes, Ian.  God, I am going to come so hard for you.”  She panted as she pulled his head back slightly, and as their eyes met, I found it strange how longingly they stared at one another in that moment.   _They both appeared so...desperate and completely consumed with their longing...and with each other._

            “Mmm…yes you are, darling, but I am going to need you to be louder than that.  Scream for me, and let everyone hear just how much you want it or I just might have to stop.”  Ian demanded in a slightly taunting tone of voice as he began moving his hand even faster, and then began biting just gently at the flesh of Ariana’s inner thigh.  The ache deep inside of me became almost too painful for me too bear as I bit back a silent moan, and even though I logically knew how incredibly inappropriate it was for me to keep watching, I found myself completely unable to move.

            “No, please.  Please don’t stop.  Fuck, I need more.  Ian…”  Ariana pleaded once again as she ground her hips almost as hard as it appeared that she could manage against Ian’s hand, and then cried out as her free hand moved just over the trembling expanse of her mouth.  I watched her bite down on the flesh that covered her knuckles until her teeth appeared to cause her actual pain, and then I heard her groan in complete desperation as Ian then carefully removed his hand.  His skin glistened with her slick desire as he very slowly moved his fingers closer toward his lips, and then very intently he licked her taste off of each of his fingertips as his eyes remained locked tightly on hers.  _My entire body ached as I watched him, and my core throbbed with need._

            “You need more of what, darling?  Tell me what it is that you want me to do to you, and tell me how desperately you want me to do it?  Beg me real nicely, and just maybe you’ll get it.”  Ian continued as he pushed his fingers deep inside of Ariana once again, and then pulled a yelp from her lips that sounded almost unhuman or at the very least unladylike.

            “Your tongue, I need your tongue.  Please taste me, Ian.  Please taste me until I cum in your mouth and then fuck me while I am still dripping from you.  Do it please, I need you.”  She begged as her eyes rolled shut and her hips jutted forward, and then she moaned once again even louder than before. 

            “Mmmm….as you wish.”  Ian whispered darkly and then I watched as his mouth suddenly crashed down upon her once again, and Ariana’s body practically exploded in what appeared to be the most satisfying pain that pleasure could give to her.

            “Miss Taylor?”  I heard the soft low voice of my literature professor suddenly echo inside of my mind as I continued watching the scene play out in front of me that was honestly beginning to seriously toy with my mind.  _My imagination was getting quite talented, and I definitely was not complaining.  God I loved the sound of his voice._

            “Yes?”  I squeaked out as I watched the muscles of Ariana’s stomach begin to eventually tighten to what appeared to be the point of pain, and then Ian’s tongue begin to quickly speed up in its tortuous movements. 

            “Miss Taylor, I thought that you were getting some air?”  Tom’s deep voice asked from inside of my mind as I felt the completely fantasized feel his body move closer behind me, and then his hand very gently move to the side of my waist.  I groaned low inside of my throat as I allowed my secret desires to completely pull me in, and give me total permission to lean back heavily against his addictive feeling form.  _Why did he feel so good, even in my head?_

            “Mmmhmmm….”  I groaned as I kept my eyes on the display before me that was quickly reaching its end, and then ran my tongue across my full bottom lip as for a moment I allowed my mind to envision that it was Tom and I in the alleyway rather than Ariana and his best friend.  _Jesus, that sight was even better._

            Tom’s voice was silent for a moment as I watched the new vision that I had created play out before me, and even though I still knew that what I was doing was completely wrong, my intense level of desire mixed with the immense level of alcohol that I had consumed momentarily reassured me that it was alright.  Tom’s strong hands on my body, his hungry mouth against my core, and his delicious tongue tasting the most delicate part of me were the only things that I could clearly see as I shuddered against the hard body that I felt behind me, and as I then felt the arms that were suddenly wrapped around me draw me even closer, I felt mouth begin to water from my need.

            “Miss Taylor, you are being a very naughty girl.”  Tom’s deep hypnotic voice once again whispered, but this time, I felt his words spoken against my ear, rather just inside the confines of my mind.  That was when reality suddenly hit me, and I was jolted out of my slightly drunken dirty dream.

            “Holy shit!”  I choked out in a slightly quiet scream as I immediately spun around on my heels, and suddenly took in the face of my literature professor who was staring back at me with an expression of slight amusement and also intense hunger consuming his beautiful face.  My breathing was erratic, and my heartbeat was frantic.  _Oh…my…god…_

            “I…I…um….”  I started, but of course there were absolutely no words that I could use that would save me from the incredibly embarrassing situation that I had just been found in.  Tom smiled slightly as he leaned closer toward my body, and then he pulled me just slightly away from the alleyway that I had so scandalously been caught in.

            “Come, Miss Taylor, I think that we should leave them to finish.  Ian’s already had enough of his fun for the night.”  He said as he looked over my shoulder briefly, and then slightly rolled his eyes toward his  friend.  I felt confusion and embarrassment wash over me in a thick wave as I attempted to decode what it was that he had meant, but I quickly gave up in my effort as I reluctantly began following Tom out of the alleyway and back toward the parking lot where now suddenly led me.  I had just been caught peeping on my literature professor’s best friend while he went down on a girl nearly half of his age in an alleyway outside of his very own club, and I was now suddenly holding the hand of said professor who had just recently found me.  Why was it that I suddenly feared that this was going in a very dangerous direction faster than I was prepared to handle?  Possibly because I was now being led in the exact direction of his car, and very far away from the safety of my friends... _Possibly._


	7. Chapter 7

_My poor body, madam, requires it; I am driven on  
by the flesh, and he must needs go that the devil drives._

_-William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well_

* * *

 

            The thick bitter taste of spiced rum lingered heavily on my tongue as I anxiously licked my suddenly dry feeling lips, and also desperately attempted to search my brain yet again for any sort of logical explanation to give to my literature professor for exactly why it was that he had just found me perversely peeping on his best friend in an alleyway, but of course no logical answer would come, because there honestly wasn’t one to be had.  My mind swirled helplessly around in what felt like an alcohol induced hurricane as the tall beautiful man before me finally pulled me up onto the freshly paved appearing asphalt that covered the expanse of the night club’s main parking lot just after dragging me behind him for the past few minutes in complete silence, and then he swiftly led me toward the passenger side of his car where it was still perfectly parked just a few feet away from the building’s maroon colored front door.  I swallowed thickly as I felt Tom finally release my fingers from his grip just as he slowly turned around to very carefully meet my incredibly nervous emerald colored eyes, and the feeling of the late midnight air cooling the skin that his touch had so recently warmed, well it almost caused me slight pain to actually feel in its entirety.  There was a strange silence that hung tensely in the atmosphere as the two of us continued to stare almost desperately into one another’s eyes, and then finally Tom roughly cleared his throat just before he eventually began to speak to me for the first time since he had first found me standing in the alley.

            “The club is due to close in just about fifteen minutes.  I thought that we could wait for Emma out here in order to avoid the crowds, that is of course, if you do not require going back inside?”  Tom asked in a soft but still incredibly deep tone of voice as the ocean colored waters of his breathtaking eyes stared back into mine, and caused my stomach to perform quite impressive backflips that made it hard to even so much as breathe, let alone formulate a coherent sentence to use in any sort of response back toward him.  _It should have been illegal for eyes to be as beautiful as his were._

            “No, I don’t need to go back inside, but thanks for asking.  Um, Tom…I really think that I should explain…”  I started suddenly without the permission of my brain as the embarrassment of being found watching such an intimate and provocative act just a few minutes before once again flooded in an almost violent rush over my system, and subsequently caused me to speak completely without thinking or even editing the words that suddenly seemed to be jumping off of my now slightly trembling lips.  _Why was it that when I was around this man I could not seem to keep control of my mouth?  Or any other part of my body for that matter?_

            “You have nothing to explain to me, Miss Taylor.  I am not your father, nor am I your priest.  It is human nature to be curious about acts that are considered forbidden or dangerous, and sex is definitely both of those things.  You have no reason to feel embarrassed and I can assure you that where I found you this evening will never ever leave the safety of my lips.”  Tom interrupted with a small smile as he tilted his head to the side just slightly as he watched me carefully, and then ran one of his hands very slowly through the copper colored waves of his incredibly soft appearing hair.  I swallowed thickly as I nodded at him very slowly in an attempt to buy myself even just a small amount of time in which to formulate a decent sounding reply, and then I found myself laughing just slightly to myself at his words that were now floating aimlessly around inside of my head.

            “You just found me in an alleyway watching your best friend go down on a girl that I am pretty sure he just met a few hours ago, and yet you are standing here explaining the situation to me as if we were standing in the middle of your class.  Do you always sound so polished and utterly relaxed even in these kinds of situations?”  I asked in complete awe of the man standing before me who seemed to suddenly be treating my embarrassing situation as if it was a discussion topic for human behavior, and not the completely horrifying social faux paus that it actually truly was.  Tom smiled slightly wider as he began to slowly shake his head, and then he eventually dropped his hand down that had been mindlessly messing with his hair, and then carefully ran his long fingers very slowly over the expanse of his very smooth appearing lips.  _Oh sweet Jesus, please don’t do that._

            “No, Lucy, I am not always this polished and relaxed.  I am merely just explaining this to you in the manner in which I know that you are comfortable, and with words that I believe will help to ease your mind.  I could quite easily explain it to you as the man that I am beneath all of the suits and Shakespeare…but deep down, I think that we both know that you aren’t quite ready for that.”  He answered just as the tone of his voice dropped down just about one octave, and his utterly entrancing eyes locked in tightly on my stare, causing me to begin to wobble slightly uneasily in Emma’s heels that I honestly could not wait to finally take off.  _Actually, Professor Hiddleston, I would love for you to explain anything to me without your suit…oh yeah…or Shakespeare._

            “I…um…”  I stuttered nervously, but thankfully I was cut off before I was forced to respond to Tom’s most recent completely unnerving question by the sound of the main entrance door to Ian’s club swinging almost violently open, and then hundreds of young drunken college students beginning to pour quickly out of it.  _Thank God for bar close._

            “Lucy!  Lucy, there you are!  Lucy, I have been looking alllllllllll over for you.”   I suddenly heard Emma’s incredibly intoxicated sounding voice call from over the crowd behind me, and in turn not only gain my attention, but also attract her brother’s as well.

            “Oh Christ, she’s completely blitzed.  I swear, I was only gone for fifteen minutes.”  Tom cursed as he ran his fingers through his hair in a slightly exhausted fashion as he took in the vision of his sister swaying very unsteadily toward us, and then our short string of friends following quite diligently behind her.

            “Emma, what happened in there?  I wasn’t outside for more than like thirty minutes.”  I said questioningly as Emma finally reached my body, and then immediately threw her arms around my form just before she dropped all of her weight against me nearly as hard as she could manage.  _I was very glad that she was a very small girl._

            “Well, when you left Emma decided that we should do a few shots since the club only had about an hour before close.  A few shots…well they turned into _quite_ a few shots very quickly.”  Benjamin suddenly answered from just behind Emma where he had apparently just appeared out of thin air, and then he smiled almost wickedly as he once again ran his eyes hungrily over my form.  _Jesus, please stop looking at me like that, it’s really getting creepy._

            “Emma, how many shots was quite a few shots?”  I asked as I pulled my friend up from my shoulder where she had been quite heavily resting her head, and then lifted her gaze up toward mine.  Emma smiled as she licked her lips slowly just before her eyes began to roll back slightly in her head, and then she laughed very quietly to herself.

            “Um….like….maybe two?  Or five….  Two or five, I cannot be completely sure.”  She answered in a very polished sort of slur as she giggled once again, and then dropped her head back down just to the side of my neck.  I heard Tom sigh loudly from behind me as he suddenly moved closer toward my frame, and then he finally very slowly hooked one of his long arms gently around Emma’s slender shoulders just as he carefully began shifting her weight.

            “Come here, love.  Let’s get you in the car and then get you home.  I have a feeling that you have quite a bit of retching to do, and I would rather that you did not do it all over my freshly polished leather.”  He said with a small laugh as he carefully pulled Emma away from my side, and then began moving her very gently toward the passenger side door of his car that had yet to have been opened.  I smiled as I watched him so lovingly take care of his sister even though I could tell that he was in fact quite annoyed, and then I hesitantly turned my attention back toward Benjamin and now suddenly Emily, who had also mysteriously appeared directly at his side.

            “Well, it looks like Emma is out for the night.  Lucy, do you want to come back to the dorms with us?  I think the girl down the hall from me is having a party tonight.  It might be fun.”  Emily asked with a bright smile as she took a step closer toward where I stood, and then began happily nodding her head in anticipation in my direction.  I smiled seeing the genuine excitement flooding through her beautiful hazel eyes as she awaited my answer, and then I saw Benjamin quickly step up behind her as well with a very different sort of an expression on his face.  _And, his expression immediately ruined everything._

            “Yes, you should definitely come.  I would be happy to give you a lift, and then in the morning I’d be happy to drop you back with your friend.  There is plenty of room in either Emily or my dorm for you to crash if you want to.”  Benjamin offered quickly, and with very excited appearing eyes.  I swallowed thickly as I felt myself almost gag at the words that he had just said to me, and then I suddenly watched as Tom quickly emerged from the backseat of his car where he had just settled Emma, with a look on his face that almost appeared slightly angry.

            “I think that it would be best if I give Miss Taylor a lift home tonight, Mr. Dickson.  I do believe that my sister might require her assistance at some point incredibly soon, and that she also has quite the stack of coursework to attend to as well, come morning.”  Tom interjected as he relaxed back on his heels, and then narrowed his eyes tightly in his teaching assistant’s direction.  _Well, wasn’t this an interesting turn of events, Professor._

            “Tell him, Tom!  He just wants to take Lucy back to the dorms so that he can shag her and then not ring her back tomorrow!  That’s what he’ll do!  That’s what all of them do!”  Emma yelled in a slur from the backseat of Tom’s still open car as I then heard her start giggling quietly to herself.  Tom laughed lightly to himself as he narrowed his eyes and then began shaking his head down toward the ground beneath his feet.  I smiled as I felt my face turn slightly red from the implication of my friend’s words, and then I couldn’t help but nearly laugh when I finally noticed that Benjamin’s face had turned nearly purple as well.

            “I didn’t mean…”  Benjamin started quickly and very uneasily in an effort to most likely save himself from his sudden social shame, but once again, dear sweet Emma chimed in and immediately cut off his reply.

            “Don’t lie, Benny boy, you did too mean it.  But, don’t get too upset, you never stood a chance in hell anyway.  Lucy is engaged to an arsehole back in America, and even if she did go after a Brit, it definitely would not be yoooouuuuu.”  She slurred as she continued to giggle wildly to herself.  I rolled my eyes as I leaned closer toward the open door to Tom’s car, and then I finally took in the view of Emma laying sprawled out across the entirety of Tom’s backseat, and laughing to herself as if she had gone completely insane.  _This was why I didn’t drink very often.  Well, this and the few things that had happened earlier that night._

            “Emma, please behave yourself.”  I said in a whispered laugh as I watched Emma slowly turn her head back toward me, and then wink playfully in my direction.

            “Don’t worry, love.  I won’t tell your little admirer about how dashing you thought that his boss was on the first day that you met him, even though you so adamantly claimed that you hated him.  You know, how his eyes weren’t quite blue, but they weren’t quite green either?”  Emma almost screamed in what sounded like a very projected whisper with a soft giggle from the backseat as she then turned her eyes back up toward the roof of Tom’s car, and began singing sweetly to herself once again.  I felt my skin begin to burn with embarrassment as I slowly turned back toward the three people that were standing behind me who had obviously all just heard what my friend had so loudly said, and then I slowly released a very nervous breath as I pushed a few of my sandy colored waves back behind the burning flesh of my ear.

            “She is very drunk.”  I said quietly in my defense as I bit down gently on the swell of my bottom lip, and then began fidgeting anxiously where I stood.  Tom licked his lips as I turned my attention slightly toward where he stood watching me with a very satisfied type of look on his face, and then finally he decided to come to my desperately needed aide.  _It was about time._

            “Yes, Emma is not one to go easy when it comes to liquor, so we should probably get her home and out of public before she gets all of us arrested.  Mr. Dickson, are you alright to get Miss Watson back to the dorms safely tonight?”  He asked as he quickly turned his attention back toward his teaching assistant who now looked as if he had just watched someone kick a puppy, and then he narrowed his eyes as he slightly impatiently awaited his response.  Emily quickly opened her mouth as she stepped forward as I assumed she was preparing herself to beg Tom to be the one to take her home, but then Benjamin jumped in just before she was able to actually speak.  _Poor Emily.  Poor sweet Emily._

            “Yes, I am fine, I only had a few drinks.  Come on, Emily. Let’s go see about that party.”  He said slightly coldly as he grabbed a hold of Emily’s arm, and then began pulling her back in the opposite direction where I imagined that his car must have been parked.  A look of disappointment immediately washed over Emily’s face as she finally began very hesitantly following Benjamin’s lead, and then slowly she once again turned back toward me.

            “We should do this again sometime, Lucy, it was a lot of fun.  Maybe we can have a study date or something?”  Emily asked with a bright shining smile as she nodded toward me excitedly, and then pulled away even further from Benjamin’s obviously unwanted grip.  I smiled as I nodded slowly, and then moved back slightly toward Tom’s passenger side door where he stood silently waiting for me to climb inside.

            “That would be great, Emily.  I will see you in class on Monday.”  I said as I finally stopped just in front of my literature professor, and then nodded back toward my first real friend that I had made in England that I hadn’t acquired at Harvard.

            “Shall we, Miss Taylor?”  Tom suddenly whispered very softly into my ear just after Emily finally flashed me one last goodbye smile, and then eventually turned back toward Benjamin who was now already a good fifty feet away from where she stood.  I shivered as Tom’s warm breath seemed to seductively caress the suddenly overly sensitive flesh of my ear, and then I very slowly nodded my head just as I finally turned my attention completely back toward him.

            “Um…yeah.  Of course.”  I said softly as I slowly lifted my eyes back up to meet Tom’s, and then swallowed thickly as I saw an intensity radiating from inside of them that almost scared me slightly to see.  Tom nodded with a very different sort of smile than I was used to seeing on him as he then stepped back slowly away from his door in order to make room for my body, and then very carefully, I finally slid into the passenger side door and very anxiously onto his deliciously smooth leather seats.

            The duration of the car trip from Ian’s club to my literature professor’s home was only about twenty minutes in length, but it felt like hours as I sat silently next to Tom, and desperately attempted to ignore the fact that he was quite obviously staring at me.  I sighed slightly shakily as I very carefully moved my now quite messy hair just somewhat away from my most likely completely flushed face, and then I eventually dropped my hand back down to rest against the overheated flesh of my thigh as soon as I was finished.  I could see Tom continue to watch me fidgeting out of the corner of his eye while he also at least somewhat attempted to watch the road, and I smiled as I heard Emma beginning to sing quietly from the backseat once again as I felt the tension between her brother and I finally ease just slightly.  _Sometimes you just had to thank God for Emma._

            “Shine bright like a diamond….Shine bright like a diamond.”  She started as she sighed loudly, and then began to once again giggle wildly to herself as if she was remembering a joke that only she had been lucky enough to hear.  I smiled to myself as I looked down and began fiddling anxiously with the hem of my dress, and then I noticed as Tom’s eyes very obediently seemed to follow my hands.  _Hmm…._

            “I am going to guess that she had five shots rather than just two.”  I said with a small smile as I nodded back toward Emma, and then slowly turned my eyes anxiously toward Tom.  Tom smiled slightly tensely as he nodded almost uneasily just as I began gently rubbing the tips of my fingers very slowly over the exposed skin of my incredibly warm feeling thighs, and then I took the flesh of my full bottom lip very carefully between the sharpness of my teeth just before I very gently bit down.  _I had absolutely no idea what it was that I was doing, but I had to admit, it felt really fun to be doing it at all._

            “My sister…doesn’t really have a lot of self…restraint.”  Tom said in a slightly hushed tone of voice as he tripped just a little over his words, and then continued running his eyes over the flesh of my bare legs just after he spoke them.  _God, I loved the way that he looked at me._

            “So, I take it that you do?  You know, being the older brother and all?”  I asked slightly flirtatiously as I adjusted myself carefully where I sat, and thus caused my dress to slide up my thighs just a little bit higher than it had been before I had completely my movement.  Tom’s hands tightened around the steering wheel until his knuckles began to slightly whiten, and I couldn’t lie, it was an insanely sexy vision to take in.  _I wondered how else I could get those knuckles to turn that color._

            “No, I don’t believe that anyone in our family is known for restraint, and honestly I am most likely the worst one of them all.”  He responded quietly as he smiled to himself hearing Emma begin to once again continue to sing, and then he shifted his eyes back toward my legs that my fingers were still very gently caressing.  _I would have sold my sole for it to have been him that was touching me._

            “I find that hard to believe, Professor.  You seem pretty in control of yourself, and I don’t think I’ve ever even seen you with so much as a single hair out of place on your head.”  I said as I slid my finger under the hem of my dress just about a half of an inch, and then began massaging the flesh of my upper thigh just slightly with my own incredibly soft touch.  It was a fairly PG movement, and I had absolutely no intention of doing anything truly inappropriate, but the response that I got from the man sitting next to me was far from innocent in its reply.  All of the muscles in Tom’s neck flexed as he quickly tightened his jaw as he appeared to almost unwillingly watch me, and the sweet release of delicious sounding breath that left his lips shortly thereafter, well it was absolutely intoxicating to hear. 

            “Well, I would be more than happy to show you how truly reckless I can be, Miss Taylor.  All you have to do is ask.”  He purred seductively from low within his throat as his eyes slowly lifted toward mine, and then his smile turned slightly darker than it had been before.  I swallowed thickly as my hands immediately stopped moving at the last word that Tom had spoken, and then I felt my heart nearly burst through my chest in what felt like a mixture between complete excitement and also total fear.  _Wait, what did he just say?_

            “Shine bright!  Tonight!  You and I!  We’re beautiful like diamonds in the sky!”  Emma began singing much louder than she had been before from the backseat, and thankfully in turn, broke through the tension that had once again grown between me and Tom, and also swiftly returned me back to reality where I so desperately needed to be. _You…have…a…fiancé!!!!!_

            “Alright Rihanna, we are here.  Let’s get you out of the car and into your bed.”  Tom said with a smile as he finally turned his attention away from me, and then slightly roughly shifted his car into park just as we magically appeared to arrive directly in the center of his driveway.  I swallowed thickly as I anxiously released another breath, and then carefully pushed my car door open hoping to get to my bed quickly before I made any other foolish mistakes tonight that I would most likely regret in the morning.  _Or not regret…although that might make me feel even worse than I already currently did…_

            “Nooooo!  I want to stay up and watch the tele with Lucy.  We always used to watch the tele and talk after a night of drinking.  Tell him, Lucy.  Tell him that you don’t want me to go to bed, and that you want to watch the tele.”  Emma whined from the backseat just as Tom began pulling her out and into his arms, and helping her gently toward his crimson colored front door.  I smiled as I remembered the nights of laughing that Emma and I had shared when we had been back at Harvard, but I also remembered the fact that most of the time she hadn’t been quite as drunk as she so obviously appeared to be now.  _I think the liquor was stronger in actual England than it had been in New England._

            “Emma, sweetie.  I think that Tom is right, you need to get some sleep.  Five shots in a row is a lot for someone of your size.  You will feel better if you just get some rest.”  I reasoned as I couldn’t help but look up and catch Tom looking at me from the corner of his eye with a hint of something very dangerous edging in his slightly darkened stare.  _Maybe Emma should stay up, after all._

            “Don’t side with him, Lucy!  He’s not as dreamy as you think!  He used to rip all of my dolls heads off when I was little, Lucy!  Serial killers do stuff like that!  Serial killers!”  Emma argued as Tom led her up to the front door, and then very carefully held her up with his side as he quickly slipped his key into the lock.  I smiled as I shook my head at my friend’s incredibly drunkenness, and then finally followed the two of them back inside of the house just as Tom began explaining exactly why it was that he had abused Emma’s dolls when they had been children.  _My guess was because the two of them were crazy, and had most likely been acting this way ever since birth._

            About ten minutes later, I found myself fruitlessly struggling with my best friend in order to get her dressed and ready for bed, and nearly clocking her on more than one occasion due to her completely unnecessary disobedience.  Emma fought me at every single turn as I attempted to get her changed into her pajama’s before she inevitably passed out cold for the remainder of the night, and then she whined loudly every time that I attempted to move her, claiming that I was somehow always pulling her hair.  Finally, by the time that Emma’s bedside clock read three thirty in the morning, I had gotten her tucked in tightly beneath her sheets, and she had actually become quiet for the first time of the night.  I smiled as I leaned down and gently kissed her forehead just before I very quietly turned to take my now utterly exhausted leave, but then I was caught completely off guard when I heard her once again softly speak to me just before I had finally reached her doorway.

            “You like my brother, don’t you, Lucy?”  Emma asked in a slightly serious tone just as my fingers finally hit the silver knob of her polished oak door, and my heart began to once again hammer wildly from deep inside of my chest.  I swallowed thickly as I slowly turned back around toward my friend, and then I very carefully shrugged my shoulders in what I hoped appeared to be complete ambivalence.

            “Your brother is very nice, Emma, and I think that he is an amazing professor.  So yes, I’d say that I like him a lot.”  I answered quickly as I held a smile on my face that was much more nervous than it was sincere.  Emma lifted her head up slowly from her pillow, and then she groaned in the slightest amount of pain as she then quickly dropped it back down to the softness of her mattress.

            “You know that wasn’t what I asked, Lucy.”  She said in a strained, but still slightly serious tone.  I sighed as I turned the knob that I held carefully in my hand, and then I slightly anxiously cleared my now very dry feeling throat.

            “I’m engaged, Emma.”  I whispered quickly as if to remind myself more than her of my incredibly complicated relationship status, and then I dug my fingers almost painfully hard against the silver that I still so tightly held.  Emma sighed as she situated herself differently beneath her sheets, and then she groaned slightly louder in pain once again just before she began to once again speak.

            “I didn’t ask that either.”  She whispered as I could tell even without looking at her that she was now smiling, and then I watched silently as she finally rolled over onto her side just before moaning yet again.  I sighed as I nodded slowly, but instead of arguing with her further as I usually always did, I simply decided to keep my mouth shut and finally make my way out of her room so that this seemingly endless day just might possibly finally find its inevitable end.  _Being awake and moving for this long just couldn’t possibly be healthy._

            By the time that I had finally stepped back out into the grand expanse of the first floor’s main hallway, I found the space surrounding me completely devoid of any light or sound, and also unfortunately lacking in the presence of my best friend’s older brother who I had still so desperately wanted to see before the true end of the night had actually been found.  I sighed in frustration as I mentally scolded myself for once again allowing myself to long for something that I had absolutely no right to even _want_ to have, and then I very carefully began searching for the staircase just to my left hand side, so that I could once again retire to the safety of my bed.  The night behind me had been completely confusing and incredibly strange as I had given in to more of my hidden desires than I honestly cared to admit, but now that it was finally nearing morning, I knew that I needed to completely leave the evening behind me where it belonged.  I needed to get my head together before I did something without thinking that I later would not be able to take back.  Something that I was quite certain now, I most definitely would not regret, but that everyone else around me would believe that I absolutely should.

The second that my heels finally hit the smooth polished wood landing to the top floor of Tom’s home, the heavy beat of R&B music immediately filled my ears, and the smell of whiskey mixed with honey suddenly coated thickly over my senses.  The air around me seemed slightly different than it had when I had been on the first floor just a few moments before, and the mood in the atmosphere seemed much more intense than that of what I would have expected for nearly four o’clock in the morning.  Slowly, without the permission or my brain or my sense of logic that I had been conversing with only seconds before, I carefully began moving down the shadow shrouded hallway before me as if I were moving in some sort of beautiful realistically depicted dream, and then I finally allowed myself to come to a halt the moment when I finally came to Tom’s expansive oak polished bedroom door.  Every voice inside of me screamed to turn around and return to the safety of my room, but as I felt all of the emotions that I had so desperately attempted to fight all night regarding the man that had been silently torturing me for nearly the past two months begin to swirl around wildly inside of my body, I couldn’t seem to find the strength to listen to a single thing that any of them had to say.  My want to simply be even just in the mere presence of my completely unnerving literature professor was too strong for me to any longer attempt to fight, and because of the strength of the want that roared so loudly inside of me, I eventually found myself very quietly knocking on his door.  _Jesus, Lucy.  What the hell are you doing?_

            The seconds ticked by like hours as I stood in the narrow hallway surrounded by nothing except for the soft hum of music and the sound of my own slightly frantic breathing, but then finally after what felt like a lifetime, I eventually watched as the knob to Tom’s door began to very slowly turn before me.  My heart thundered deep inside of my chest as I swallowed against the lump that had formed in the center of my throat just like it always did, and then I felt my breath finally hitch within my lungs as Tom then carefully opened his door.  The warm smile that I had come to long for over the past eight weeks suddenly became the only thing that I could see as my literature professor’s lean delicious appearing body finally came completely into my view, and then as I watched him very slowly part his lips, I desperately attempted to pull myself together before either one of us had the chance to speak.  _Come on, Lucy.  He’s just a man._

            “Miss Taylor, what a lovely surprise.  To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit so late tonight?  My sister not cooperating and refusing once again to rest?”  Tom asked as his beautiful smile grew even wider on his face, and then he very casually leaned back against the solid oak frame of his door.  I smiled as I took in the appearance of him in his incredibly thin powder blue T-shirt and black sleep pants, and then I very slowly shook my head.  _That glorious shirt left absolutely nothing to the imagination.  Nothing…_

            “Um…no actually, Emma went out pretty quickly.  I was um…just…bored, I guess, as silly as that sounds.  Whenever Emma and I went out together back at Harvard we always spent the night up talking, and I guess, I just thought that if you were up…”  I stuttered as I slightly trailed off feeling my nerves once again painfully come to life beneath my skin, and then I released a very nervous breath from between my suddenly dry feeling lips.

            “Well, then would you like to come in, Miss Taylor?  I was just about to begin grading some papers, but I would welcome any distraction, especially one as beautiful as you.”  Tom said smoothly as he stepped back slightly away from his door so that I had room to walk through, and then nodded back toward his bedroom.  I swallowed thickly taking in his very suave words, and then I twisted my fingers in front of my body slightly nervously as I remained firmly planted where I stood.

            “I don’t want to bother you if you are working…I…”  I started, but Tom quickly cut me off as he began slowly shaking his head.

            “You could never be bothering me, Miss Taylor.  The only reason that I had resorted to my coursework was simply because I could not sleep.  Trust me, at four o’clock in the morning I would much rather chat with you, than pour over hundreds of essays that honestly all pretty much are exactly the same.”  He said with a smile as he once again nodded back toward the room that was laid out behind him.  I smiled finally as I released my hands from in front of my body, and then after a moment of reassuring myself that my decision would in fact be completely harmless, I eventually gained the courage to shakily cross over the threshold, and finally enter his room.

            The expansive bedroom that I found suddenly surrounding me was incredibly warm in temperature and very neat in its composure as I moved even further away from Tom’s doorway, and then very carefully took in the space that was now completely within my view.  Beautiful bookcases that were filled to the ceiling with hundreds of books adorned nearly every wall surrounding me, and even more leather bound publications lay atop various wooden end tables that were scattered in an almost meticulous madness around the decently sized room.  The soft scent of honey mixed with whiskey that I had smelled in the hallway just a few moments before once again deliciously flowed into my system as I took in a very deep inhale, and the soft sound of familiar music hummed from a large thin speaker that I saw in the corner just by a quite grand appearing neatly kept closet.  The air was warm and the carpet beneath my heels appeared quite plush in its texture, but nothing that I saw around me, compared to the expansive king sized bed that sat in the very center of the room.  I swallowed thickly as I took in the dark emerald colored linens that were draped over the almost too soft appearing bed, and I attempted to force my mind not to vividly imagine what it would be like to lay beneath the silk appearing sheets that covered it or honestly…beneath Tom instead.

            “Would you care for a drink?”  Tom asked suddenly jarring me from my inner wanderings and returning me to the reality that I currently stood in just a few feet away from his still quite breathtaking form.  I swallowed thickly as I slowly turned back toward him as if I was waking from a dream, and then I immediately noticed that he had his hand outstretched toward mine with a crystal tumbler filled with dark amber colored liquid held tightly in his grips.

            “Oh, um…sure. Thank you.”  I said with a small smile as I gently took the glass from Tom’s hand, and then felt my skin immediately heat nearly to the point of boiling just as my fingers very briefly drifted across his.  _There was just something about being alone with him at this very strange time in the night.  Something that felt so completely…unnerving._

            “You are most welcome.  So, did you enjoy your first night out in England, Miss Taylor?”  Tom asked as he nodded over toward his bed where I assumed that he actually thought it would be appropriate for us to sit down.  _No, Lucy.  No!  Do not sit on his bed!  Do not go anywhere near his bed!_

            “Um…yes, I had a really good time.  I liked Ian’s club a lot.  How long has it been open?”  I asked attempting to make polite conversation as I idiotically followed Tom to his bed, and then eventually sat down a safe distance away from his right hand side.

            “Just about two years, and actually, it has done far better than I thought that it would.  Cambridge is a pretty quiet place most of the time, so I assumed that a night club such as his wouldn’t go over so well.  Lucky for us, though, I was mistaken.”  Tom answered as he smiled warmly in my direction, and then took a long sip of his drink just before he then rested his tumbler back down against the flesh that covered his tightly muscled thigh.  I nodded as I watched the tendons in his neck flex as he so gracefully appeared to move, and I also noticed how his jaw tensed just slightly as he then very slowly swallowed his liquor, appearing to very carefully savor it’s incredibly rich flavor.  My heart moved slightly faster as I felt the longing deep inside of me once again begin to intensify at an impressive pace, and the hunger that I had felt earlier in the night begin to return to my system quite swiftly as well.

            “Lucky for _us_?  I know that earlier Emma said that you were minimally invested in the club, but do you mind if I ask you if that is really true?  It just seems like maybe you have a little bit more pull there than you originally let on.”  I questioned as I began fidgeting with my untouched drink slightly anxiously, and then crossed one of my long legs over the other attempting to somehow settle my nerves.  Tom smiled as he allowed his eyes to very quickly move over the expanse of my now just slightly trembling soft thighs, and then he finally met my eyes once again just as he slightly tilted his head in my direction.

            “Why would you think that?”  He asked slightly sarcastically appearing as if he was now fighting a smile, and then he carefully took another slightly smaller sip of his drink once again from his tumbler.  I shrugged my shoulders slightly as I dropped my eyes down toward my incredibly restless feeling hands in front of me, and then I began mindlessly tapping one of my fingernails lightly against my glass.

            “I don’t know.  You just seem like the kind of person that would know a lot about business, and how to successfully keep one going.  Ian seems more like the kind of person that would be good at advertising and drawing people in, but not so much at actually making a lot of money.  I just assumed that you two worked together as more of a team, rather than you just as simply a signature.”  I explained as I slowly once again lifted my gaze and then hesitantly met Tom’s ocean colored eyes.  Tom sighed as he finally nodded his head slowly, and then he began turning his nearly empty tumbler slowly between his hands.

            “Well, your assumption would make you quite perceptive, Miss Taylor.  Yes, Ian and I do work as a team, and yes, I am much more than minimally invested in the club, but it is not important to me for others to know that.  Ian is the face of the club, and for all intensive purposes the owner, and so I merely work behind the scenes whenever I can.”  He explained as he dropped his eyes down to my hands where I still continued messing with my untouched drink that rested in my grasp, and then I suddenly found my fingers beginning to shake the second that his gaze finally fell down to them.

            “Well, that is awfully modest and kind of you to allow him to take all the credit and not feel that you have to constantly remind everyone that it is your club too.  Most of the people that I know from back home would never miss an opportunity to make sure that everyone else around them knew what an amazing thing that it was that they were doing, if it was them that was in fact actually doing it.”  I said with a small sigh as I smiled lightly, and then nodded slightly hesitantly back toward Tom.  Tom nodded in return as he then narrowed his eyes in my direction, and then finally completely finished his drink.

            “Yes, my sister has told me about your very high achieving family and also your fiancé that is equally so well accomplished.  I take it that they are not the working behind the scenes kind of people?”  Tom asked with a smile as he finally set his tumbler down onto the floor just beside his feet, and then turned his body toward me as he patiently appeared to await my response.  I shook my head as I smiled, and then I found myself laughing just slightly out loud.

            “No, both my family and Ethan are very proud of the things that they have done, and they never miss an opportunity to let everyone know about it.  I think that my mother and Ethan are the worst in all honesty, my father has actually gotten slightly better over the years.”  I explained as I felt anxiety beginning to quickly wash over me at the mention of the life that I had so recently left behind back in the states and thus caused me to finally take a very large drink from my glass, and then in turn, nearly choke on the fiery liquid in response.  _Wow, that stuff was strong._

            “Your mother is a physician, correct?”  Tom asked as he smiled just before he very gently began rubbing his hand over the expanse of my upper back apparently noticing my intense response to the liquor, and then subsequently caused the entire expanse of my flesh to break out in goose bumps just from his incredibly soft feeling touch.  _God, his hands felt good._

            “Yeah, she used to work as an administrator at one of the university hospitals in Boston, but now that she is in New York, she runs her own practice.  She is very intelligent, very highly regarded, and of course incredibly well paid.  I seriously think she even has her salary printed on her business cards somewhere or something.”  I answered with a smile as I leaned back slightly into Tom’s touch, and then took another very small sip of my drink.  _This time it went down slightly smoother than my first taste, thank God._

            “Ah, I see.  And, your father?  Should I assume that he is where you gained your desire to practice law from?”  Tom asked as he finally dropped his hand back down onto the bed behind me, and then leaned back slightly against his hands.  _The loss of his warmth was almost painful to endure._

            “Yeah, my dad has been a lawyer for almost twenty-seven years now.  He still lives in Boston, and is the head of the bar association there, and has been for the past several years.  He and his new wife live in the same neighborhood that I grew up in.”  I said softly and even I knew that I sounded slightly bitter in my response.  Tom nodded slowly as he carefully appeared to take in my words, and then he released a gentle breath from between his thin, still painfully soft appearing lips.

            “I assume that you do not enjoy your father’s new wife?”  He asked as he smiled slightly in my direction, and then rubbed the somewhat roughened pad of his thumb gently across the small of my back.  I swallowed thickly as I felt a shiver move quickly up the length of my spine, and then my heart once again begin to pound furiously inside of my chest.  _Please, don’t stop touching me._

            “It’s not that I don’t like Rebecca, she is actually a very nice person once you get to know her.  It’s just that my father started messing around with her before he even told my mother that he wanted a divorce, and then after they inevitably split up, well he rarely had time for anything other than her.  Oh, and it also doesn’t help that she is practically my age, either.”  I admitted as I laughed humorlessly, and then shrugged my shoulders again just after my reply.  Tom smiled wider as he nodded in what appeared to be personal understanding, and then he pressed his lips together slightly more tightly than he had been before.

            “Yeah, the women that my father has entertained over the years since my parents divorced, they have all been quite fair in age as well.  I guess that must be a trend or something of the sort when it comes to that generation.”  He said very carefully.  I nodded remembering Emma telling me about the incredibly emotional divorce that her parents had went through when she had been very young, and that they now were thankfully on much better terms after having gone through (and actually survived) it.

            “What is it about men, and younger women?”  I asked jokingly as I narrowed my gaze sarcastically at Tom.  Tom smiled as he laughed slightly uneasily at my remark, and then I finally made the correlation just a little too late that he was now most likely thinking about me.  _I had almost forgotten that he was almost nine years older than I was.  Too bad I honestly didn’t care._

            “And, what of this fiancé of yours?  All Emma has told me is that he is an insufferable prick who works too much, and that he has poor taste in clothing.  Judging by how that information is coming from my sister though, I will assume that at least half of it is complete and total nonsense.”  Tom said with a smile as he quickly completely changed the subject, and then turned his head intently back toward me.  I released a deep breath as I carefully licked my dry feeling lips, and then I contemplated very thoroughly exactly what it was that I wanted to say before I actually said it.  _The last thing that I honestly wanted to talk about was Ethan, but maybe this was a sign from God letting me know that I truly needed to._

            “Um…well Ethan is a lawyer and he just joined a firm in New York City where he will be practicing for probably at least the next five years.  He is very blunt and outspoken, and he is an obsessive workaholic which is one of the reasons why he and Emma just never got along.  He isn’t really a fan of art or the softer sciences, and his only hobby outside of the courtroom is sports.  He lives in Tribeca in an incredibly expensive apartment that is very sparsely decorated, and he comes from a family that nearly every single person graduated with esteemed honors from Harvard.”  I explained quickly as I finally took in a breath, and then once again took a now slightly more generous drink from my tumbler, this time finally emptying it of its contents.  Tom nodded as he watched me carefully set my empty glass down by my feet just next to his, and then he finally licked his lips before he once again decided to speak.

            “And, how do you fit into this busy world that it sounds like he lives in?  Where did you two even find the time to meet or actually date with such incredibly hectic seeming lives?”  He asked as he once again narrowed his beautiful eyes in my direction.  I sighed as I shrugged my shoulders slightly, and then I finally leaned back on my hands now almost identically matching Tom’s position at my side.

            “Well, Ethan and I met when we were in law school.  We had a class together since I was lucky enough to get into an advanced class, and we just kind of fell together from there.  We studied together, and went to school functions together, and soon after that we started dating.  We didn’t have time to go out much or anything like that, but we spent time together when our schedules would allow, and so that was nice.  His family and my family are actually common acquaintances since my father practices law, so it just kind of seemed…easy…I guess, for us to be together.”  I answered as I once again shrugged just after my response.  Tom nodded slowly as he slid one of his fingers carefully over toward mine, and then he gently touched it to the side of my still just slightly trembling overheated feeling hand.  I swallowed thickly as I reveled in the heat that his touch so quickly brought to my flesh that honestly craved him, and then I once again lifted my eyes back up toward his.

            “And, does your easy relationship with him make you happy?  Does _he_ make you feel happy and… _satisfied_?”  Tom asked as he kept his eyes tightly on mine, and then once again ran his fingertip very carefully over my soft skin.  I released a breath as I slightly anxiously took in his words, but since no one had really ever asked me that question before aside from his sister, well I didn’t have an answer readily on hand to so quickly give to him.

            “What would you define as happiness and satisfaction?”  I asked feeling completely silly for asking what sounded like such a common knowledge sort of question, but honestly, I desperately wanted to hear the answer from the man that was sitting so closely at my side.  Tom sighed as he watched me carefully, and then he appeared to think very deeply about his answer for a moment before he eventually gave it out loud.  Finally, after a few seemingly endless seconds, he apparently decided on his response, and then he carefully parted his lips in order to speak once again.

            “In regards to a romantic relationship, I suppose that I would define happiness as feeling a sense of acceptance and completion when your lover is around, and then feeling a slight sense of loss when they are missing from your once almost overly filled world.  I would say that you would always feel accepted for who it is that you truly are, and that you would never have to put up facades in order to please the one that you are with.  I believe that true love comes from being truly accepted, acknowledged, and respected by the person that you have chosen to share your life with.  I, myself, would never be able to fall in love with someone without us being able to share all of those things.”  Tom said as he continued gently caressing my hand almost absentmindedly, and then he smiled softly when he had finally finished.  I nodded slowly realizing that not one thing that he had mentioned was something that I honestly felt that I had in my relationship with Ethan, but I pushed the thought quickly from my mind as I quickly decided to speak once again.

            “And, satisfaction?  How would you define that?”  I asked knowing full well that I shouldn’t have, but still desperately wanting to hear his answer just the same.  _There was just something about listening to Tom talk that seemed to relax me.  Something that made me feel…satiety somewhere deep inside of my mind._

            “I would have to say that in my opinion satisfaction comes from having not only your emotional needs met by the person that you love, but also having the needs of your desire met by them as well.  No relationship can thrive unless it is fueled at least in part by completely senseless passion, and human beings were wired from their very creation to crave that of physical touch.  Kissing, hunger filled caresses, and nights of pleasure so blinding that you can barely tear yourself away are absolutely necessary in keeping a strong relationship alive.  Just as two people cannot last together without a firm emotional bond, I believe that they also cannot last without a physical one.  Being in a partnership with someone is a balancing act between the two opposite ends of the spectrum, and also helping each other to keep your footing so that neither one of you inevitably falls.  I could never imagine being with someone that I would willingly choose to keep my hands off of.  If I could live without their touch, then I guess I just wouldn’t see the point of being with them at all.”  Tom answered as his finger that had been very gently caressing the side of my hand finally snuck around to the inside of my wrist, and then very slowly being stroking up the length of my most exposed delicate vein.  I swallowed thickly as I felt my breathing immediately become labored, and then I released a very unsteady breath from between my lips.

            “Well, then I don’t believe that you would see the point in my relationship with Ethan either.”  I said as I forced a falsified smile onto my lips, and then carefully released yet another very nervous sort of breath.  Tom’s finger stopped moving for a moment just as he finally reached my pulse point, and then he carefully tilted his head in my direction.

            “Why would you say that?”  He asked with almost a hint of concern flooding through his deep, and completely addictive sounding melodic voice.  I swallowed as I shrugged slightly, and then quickly dropped my gaze down the portion of the bed that still lay between where the two of us sat.

            “Um…I guess because Ethan just isn’t really a…physical sort of guy.  Sure he hugs me, and he will kiss me goodbye when I leave in the morning, but he just really isn’t into the sort of bodily displays of affection that you just mentioned.”  I said as I heard my voice slightly falter, and then my breathing once again pick up.  Tom tilted his head even further toward me, and then a look of confusion suddenly took over the beautifully masculine expanse of his slightly angular face.

            “So, does that mean that you two haven’t…?”  He started as he seemed almost perplexed by my previous statement, and suddenly couldn’t seem to understand the words that I had just released from my mouth.  I laughed slightly loudly as I carefully slid my hand over my lips, and then I quickly shook my head in response to his query.

            “Oh no, we have done that.  What I meant is that he just doesn’t like a lot of touching outside of what is necessary to…um…get off.  He is more of the get in and get the job done type of guy, rather than the stay and play a little while type of guy.”  I answered as I still found myself slightly laughing at Tom’s question.  The look of confusion remained locked tightly into place on the man sitting before me even though my most recent explanation should have cleared up his misunderstanding, and then another expression that I couldn’t quite place began to also slowly come into view on Tom's face.

            “So…is that satisfying…for you?”  Tom asked as he continued staring at me strangely.  I finally allowed my smile to fade as I sensed our conversation becoming just a little more serious than it had been before, and then I once again slightly nervously shrugged my shoulders.

            “Um…well I guess I would enjoy it if he would show me a little more affection sometimes, but honestly I have grown accustomed to how he is, and so it doesn’t really bother me that much anymore.  Ethan grew up in a family where that sort of behavior just wasn’t done, and so I understand why he isn’t comfortable with it now.”  I answered as I allowed my pinky to slip just to the side of Tom’s hand, and then touch him very gently since he had now not touched me for longer than I could continue to sanely withstand.  _I knew I was acting foolish, but it was too late in the night for me to truly care._

            “Well, I will take that answer as a no, then.  What about…intimately?  Does it satisfy you that he merely performs the necessary acts for swift gratification and nothing more...fulfilling?”  Tom asked as he wrapped one of his fingers gently around mine, and then pulled my hand slightly closer toward his.  _God, I never wanted him to stop touching me._

            “I don’t know, it’s really all that I’ve ever known.  I lost my virginity to a friend when I was in high school, but other than that, Ethan has been the only other man that I have been with.  The sex isn’t horrible, I guess, but it isn’t really something that I really put a lot of thought into either.  It doesn’t cause me to scream to high heaven like in all of the movies on TV, but it also doesn’t make me cringe either.  I guess it’s just…normal.”  I said as I shrugged slightly once again.  Tom narrowed his eyes even more tightly as he continued to stare at me in confusion, and then he finally once again tightened his grip on my hand.

            “That’s not normal, Lucy.”  He said in a slightly hushed voice as he unusually called me by my first name, and then subsequently caused my skin to almost immediately flush completely of its natural color.

            “Then I guess I don’t know what normal is.”  I whispered as I felt my heart begin to hum slightly more wildly from deep inside of my chest.  Tom sighed in an almost nervous fashion as he finally pushed himself up fully to sit, and then he very slowly reached his free hand out toward me.  Meticulously and incredibly carefully, he touched his fingers to the side of my cheek and then he drug his hand down over the curve of my jaw so slowly that it almost hurt.  He then allowed his fingertips to trail in what felt like a whisper down over the hollow of my throat, and then he finally ceased in his movements just as he settled his touch over my now throbbing pulse.  I could feel my heartbeat pounding roughly against his fingertips as he pressed his flesh tightly against mine, and a rush of both excitement and embarrassment immediately overtook me as Tom intently stared into my eyes.

            “Yes, you do.  You just don’t feel it with him.”  He whispered as he then swallowed incredibly thickly, and then slowly dropped his fingers down to the deep ridge of my now quivering collarbone.  I shuttered slightly against his warm, and now slightly different feeling touch.

            “And, I shouldn’t feel it with you.  I shouldn’t feel any of the things that I feel right now with you.”  I whispered as the familiar lump inside of my throat once again returned, and my nerves began to throb painfully from beneath my skin.  Tom’s eyes locked in on mine even tighter as he slowly licked his lips, and then he released a very ragged breath just before he once again began to speak.

            “What is it that you feel?”  He asked as he stared intensely back at me, and his chest began to fall and rise slightly faster as he seemed to slightly anxiously await my reply.  I released a very ragged breath as I felt my lips beginning to shake just above my chin, and my palms beginning to sweat against the thin silken material of my dress.

            “Terrified, confused, excited, and completely desperate for you to never stop fucking touching me.  Every time that I am around you this…hunger inside of me feels as if it becomes more and more starved, and the only way to feed it is by having your hands on my skin in any way that I can.  I could control it before because our moments alone or outside of the classroom were few and they felt as if they were managed, but tonight everything felt like it suddenly changed.  You touched me off and on all night in a way that you never have before, and every single second that you didn’t have your hands on me, well I felt like I was drowning.  I fought with myself all night, telling myself that all of the things that I found myself wanting were wrong, but no matter how logically I argued, the feelings just wouldn’t stop.”  I finally concluded in a very long breath that left me almost gasping for air, and the very moment that my confession left my lips, I immediately regretted ever allowing it to escape at all.  The silence in the room surrounding me was suddenly heavy as Tom stared at me with dark still painfully gorgeous eyes, and the tension that had been ever present in the car just about an hour before, well it was back now with a vengeance.  _Please say something…_

“And, why do you want the feelings to stop?”  Tom asked now in a very low and slightly gravely tone as he shifted his body slightly closer toward mine, and then began carefully moving his fingers back up to the delicate flesh that covered the side of my neck.  I released another uneasy breath, and then I forced myself to swallow against the dryness of my throat no matter how much it hurt me to try.

            “Because I know that we can’t do this.”  I whispered as Tom’s thumb gently slipped over my chin, and then slowly turned my head closer in his direction.

            “Why?”  He whispered as he moved even closer toward me, only stopping when he finally got just an inch away from my lips, and then simply breathed against my skin as I attempted to formulate something... _anything_ coherent to say.

            “You’re my professor…you could get in trouble…I could get in trouble…”  I whispered as my eyes dropped down to Tom’s lips, and my heart suddenly skipped more than just a few beats inside of my chest.

            “You are one of my worst students, and I have absolutely no intention of fabricating your grade, regardless of what happens in the privacy of my home.  I also have tenure, so I can assure you, I will be just fine.  No harm will come to you because the students are almost always considered innocent, and none of this matters at all anyway, because no one is going to find out.”  Tom said as his lips very gently brushed against mine, and his thumb began very softly pressing against the slight curve of my chin.  I swallowed thickly as I felt the hunger inside of me beginning to spin wildly out of control, and a very searing level of heat beginning to settle deep between my thighs.

            “You are also Emma’s brother…”  I whispered as I leaned slightly closer and allowed my lips to very gently touch Tom’s just one more time, and then I quickly pulled back as fear of course once again got the better of me.  Tom smiled a very small smile as he widened his eyes in my direction, and then he carefully cleared his throat before he once again began to speak.

            “You know that is a poor excuse, my sister would be our biggest fan.  Anything else?”  He asked softly.  I released a breath, and then swallowed thickly once again.

            “You’re…too old for me.  I’m only twenty-four and you're thirty-three.”  I said shakily even though I honestly couldn’t have cared less how old the man in front of me was, but I needed to say it out loud anyway so that possibly later I could remind myself that I had at least fought a good fight.  Tom stared at me for a moment and then touched his nose gently to mine just before he very slowly tilted his head so that his lips were dangerously close to mine.  _Please just kiss me…_

            “ _You_ know that you don’t care about that, and _I_ know that deep down you actually find my extra years quite appealing when you think of me.  You imagine all of the ways that I might be able to please you that men your age can’t because they are still far too self-consumed with their own desire, and you revel in the idea that our being together is slightly taboo.  Are there any other reasons that you would like to give to me for as to why we should not do this, or would now finally be a good time to simply shut you up by kissing you?”  Tom asked as his smile once again faded, and his lips brushed temptingly against mine.  I swallowed as I felt my vision begin to slightly blur as heat once again moved over me, and all of the muscles deep inside of my stomach began to tighten almost to the point of pain.

            “I…”  I started, but Tom and I had finally reached a moment in the night that no longer required words, and that no amount of logic would ever possibly be able to explain.  The second that I parted my lips to give any of the other countless reasons as to why Tom and I should not be doing what it was that we were honestly only milliseconds away from doing, his hungry lips crashed down against mine and I was gone in an instant.  I had fought a good fight, but now it was finally over.  I couldn’t take the fighting or the thinking any longer.  All I wanted was him, and it was that simple.  All I needed was him, and I was finally just going to take him.

            After the seemingly endless weeks that I had spent fighting the intense feelings that I had for Tom and idiotically convincing myself that giving in to my desires for him would be the end of the world, it honestly surprised me how quickly all of my fears and apprehensions melted away almost the mere instant that his lips finally molded against mine.  All of the countless internal conversations that I had explaining to myself that I was being foolish for even considering entertaining the lust that burned so deeply within me for my undeniably alluring literature professor now almost seemed laughable, and the realization that I had wasted countless opportunities to feel his lips against mine, well it was almost painful to truly endure. _I had wasted so much time…but I wasn’t wasting time anymore._

“You taste absolutely divine, darling.”  Tom whispered breathlessly as he pulled himself back away from my lips, and then began hungrily sucking over the now painfully overheated flesh that covered the expanse of my throat.  I moaned quietly under my breath as I threaded my fingers gently into his soft copper colored hair, and then I tightened my legs together as I felt my core beginning to uncomfortably throb from between my legs. 

            “Mm…God that feels good.”  I whispered as I pulled Tom even closer toward my practically starving body, and then I bit down on my lip as I felt him gently begin to nip at my incredibly delicate skin.  _Sweet Jesus._

            “Lay back.”  Tom breathed heavily against my skin just as I felt his body slightly begin to press against mine, and then his mouth suddenly grow even more desperate against my now painfully aching hot flesh.  I groaned as I closed my eyes slowly, and then I immediately obeyed Tom’s soft request almost the second after he first spoken it.

            The room around me became almost unbearably hot as I allowed my back to quickly fall down against the softness of Tom’s bed that lay beneath me, and my mouth to find his quickly once again the second that his body finally covered mine.  Every muscle, bone and inch of Tom’s flesh molded tightly against my form in what felt like an almost puzzle piece sort of fashion as he pressed his body down slightly harder against mine, and every fiber of my entire being reveled in the feel of him so close after having waited for his touch for so long.  Tom’s caress was hungry and aggressive as he slid his hands slowly from my face down the sides of my now slightly trembling body, and his mouth was almost robbing as it moved lustfully against my lips and pulled desire fueled moans out from deep inside of my painfully aching throat.

            “Mmm….”  I whimpered just as Tom finally pulled back away from my now kiss swollen lips, and then began once again moving down toward my throat where he quickly latched his lips to the flesh just over my pulse. _God, his mouth felt good._

            “I am going to make you scream so fiercely that people in London are going to know my name.”  Tom whispered hotly as he slowly began moving down toward the swell of my heaving chest that had been previously pressed tightly against him, and then allowed his hands to slip carefully behind the slender length of my slightly arched back.  I groaned as I felt his tongue beginning to taste the warm flesh just above my dress’s neckline, and then I bit down on my bottom lip as I felt the zipper that laced down my back very carefully begin to finally release.

            “God, I want you so bad.”  I whispered on a slightly broken moan as Tom quickly slid his hands up and under the straps that curved just over my shoulders, and then he painfully slowly peeled my dress down over my now almost violently shaking form.  There was an almost endless seeming silence that hung in the air around us as Tom stared down at me with hooded lust filled eyes as he took in my bare torso that lay out completely vulnerable beneath him, and then I finally heard him groan low within his chest just before his mouth once again thankfully returned to my desperate skin.

            “Fuck…”  I groaned shakily just as I felt Tom’s lips very gently close around one of my very taut pebbled nipples, and then his other hand move slowly to the swell of my other breast where he hungrily caressed my soft skin.  My neck arched back immediately as I felt sensations that I had never experienced before begin to flow so freely and intensely inside of me, and my clit become painfully slick from between my thighs just as Tom’s tongue began to swirl incredibly slowly over my delicate flesh.

            “Christ you are sweet, darling.  Every inch of you is absolutely mouthwatering.”  He whispered against my breast as he then slowly licked a very wet line just over my now incredibly sensitive hardened nipple, and then he breathed heavily over my dampened flesh just as soon as he had finally finished.  I shivered against him as I bit down harder on the swell of my now slightly swollen bottom lip, and then I tangled my fingers into Tom's hair as I suddenly found myself desperate for something to grip.

            “I…I want to taste you...all of you.  God, it still feels like you are so far away.”  I admitted on another shaky moan as I felt myself pulling at Tom’s hair almost painfully hard, and suddenly completely desperate to taste his skin against the practically starving flesh of my lips.  Tom groaned as his teeth once again nicked at my soft delicate skin, and then he very slowly slid one of his hands up toward my almost violently trembling lips.

            Now, I wasn't completely certain on exactly what it truly was, but ever since the day that I had first met him, there had always been something very alluring about Tom's incredibly strong quite expansive appearing hands that had always caused my mouth to deliciously water, and force my blood to much more quickly flow inside of my veins.  The softness of his skin, the beautiful lines of his thick muscle, and even the veins that swelled just slightly every time that he would tighten his grip had always caused my body to slightly shudder, and in turn, my core to become intensely wet.  Memories of the desire that I had silently carried so deeply inside of me mixed with the intense lust that I was currently feeling now mixed together dangerously inside of my mind as I very slowly found myself dragging my lips carefully over the expanse of every single finger on Tom's incredibly strong feeling hand, and as I did so,  I found myself completely consumed with my desire in a way that I had never felt before.  I whimpered desperately as I felt Tom’s mouth slowly slide back up to the soft hollow at the center of my throat, and as I felt him then suddenly very carefully bite down, I hungrily allowed my tongue to wet the delicious skin that covered the expansive palm of his hand. His skin tasted addictive, and his grip on my hand felt so incredibly strong that I longed to feel it in places on my now completely overheated form that I had never acknowledged even to myself that I had ever wanted to be touched before.  I desperately craved for Tom to run his fingertips over every single inch of my body as slowly as he possibly could, and then I wanted to lick the taste of both of our flesh mixed together completely off of his skin as I savored its taste greedily against my completely lust consumed tongue.  In that moment, I wanted so many things that I knew I shouldn't have, but most all, I really just wanted more.

            “Mmm….” I moaned as I slowly ran my teeth over the thick bulge of flesh just where Tom’s thumb and palm happened to meet, and then I began slowly rocking my hips against the man that was so tightly pressed against me as my need began to completely overwhelm me with its power.

            “Mmm…fuck…me.”  Tom cursed softly as he finally lifted his eyes back up toward mine, and then locked in on my gaze just as he finally pressed his thumb very gently inside of my mouth just behind the sharpness of my teeth.  I sucked hungrily on his slightly roughened skin as he then dropped his free hand down to one of my hips, and then he pulled me tighter against his groin until I felt the entirety of his lower body finally mesh deliciously with mine.  _Holy mother of god he felt…intimidating._

            “Jesus…”  I moaned as I bit down almost unintentionally on Tom’s thumb, and then I rocked my hips up in a fluid motion against him once again, feeling his impressive erection then press roughly against my core.  _I was drenched in an instant, and suddenly all cognitive processing, and any sort of normal functioning skills immediately left my mind._

            I’m not sure if it was due to the whiskey, the shots that I had at the bar that earlier had felt as if they had worn off, or the entrancing eyes of the man that was pressed so tightly against me, but the next move that I made proved to shock even me and I found that quite strange since was the one who had actually made it.  As heat flooded through my system in a wild rush that I had not at all expected, I quickly pushed myself up slightly off of my back where I had laid and carefully onto my hands, and then I rolled Tom quickly onto his back before he could so much as even attempt to stop me.  I hastily dropped my mouth down against his lips as hard as I could as I pushed my tongue hungrily past his teeth, and then I ran my hands over the thin material of his T-shirt taking in every single outline of his jagged feeling muscle that his body would so graciously allow me to feel.  I groaned as I made my way painfully slowly over the sharp edge of Tom’s jaw with my still obviously trembling lips, and then I licked down the side of his neck stealing the taste from his flesh as greedily as I possibly could.  My heart hammered roughly inside of my chest as I allowed my teeth to graze his collarbone just as I slipped my fingers underneath the soft material of his shirt, and then I slowly pushed my hands up his torso finally feeling the delicious sensation of his beautiful bare skin against my now aching flesh.   _God, he felt good._

            “You are even more bewitching than I imagined that you would be, darling.  Fuck, I can't wait to be inside of you.”  Tom whispered roughly as his stormy ocean colored eyes met mine as I looked up from my admiration of his body, and then carefully drug my nails across the soft tightly muscled flesh of his chest just as I listened to him groan deliciously beneath my touch.  _God, I loved how he talked to me._

“You have no idea how much I want you.  How much I’ve wanted you since I first ran into you that day in the hallway.”  I whispered as I slowly sat back against Tom’s hips, and then drug my hand back down the length of his torso hungrily once again.  Tom groaned as he closed his eyes momentarily, and then slowly fluttered them open again just as soon as I reached the waistband of his pajama pants.

            “And yet, you fought me.  Every day that I saw you, you avoided me like…fuck…like I had the plague.”  Tom moaned breathlessly as my fingers finally slipped over the thin material of his sleep pants and then very slowly began caressing his painfully hard dick with the softness of my touch.  Tom’s hands moved to my hips immediately as he pulled me very roughly closer toward him, and then he pushed his hands hungrily up over the outside of my thighs moving my dress to bunch up in a mess around my waist.

            “I didn’t know how to act around you when I felt the way that I did.  I was…mmm…fuck…I was…”  I whimpered breathlessly as I completely lost my words the second that Tom’s hand snaked up the inside of my suddenly trembling thigh, and his thumb began very slowly massaging my core just over my now completely soaked lace panties.  _So, was this really what it was supposed to feel like?  This seemed…dangerous._

            “Mmm…are you finally lost for words, Miss Taylor?  Christ you are wet.”  Tom groaned as he continued his tortuous movements, and then finally pushed himself up to sit so that we were almost nearly eye to eye.  I moaned as I bit down on my lip feeling his motions becoming slightly faster, and then I felt my eyes fall shut just as his incredibly stiff erection began to once again press roughly against my center.

            “Fuck, don’t torture me.  Please, I need you.  Fuck me.”  I pleaded in a voice that didn't even sound like my own as my body begged for Tom’s touch to finally slip beneath the thin material of my panties or for his long deliciously hard dick to finally push into my desperately wet core, but Tom continued with his movements regardless of my lust induced plea for his assistance.

            “Mmm…the torture is the best part darling, well that, and how painfully hard I will continue to make you come throughout the remainder of morning.”  He whispered against my lips as he rocked his hips up toward mine, and then added just a slight amount more pressure to his thumb that caressed my lace covered core.  My eyes fell shut as I felt the muscles in the lowest part of my stomach begin to painfully tighten inside of me, and the blood that moved through my veins begin to flow almost painfully fast.  _Jesus, this was intoxicating.  I swear to God I was even beginning to hear bells ringing._

            “Tom…”  I whimpered as I slid one of my hands around to the back of his head, and then fisted my fingers into his hair as I finally dropped my head down helplessly to the side of his neck.  _Oh, the bells were getting louder, I was about to explode._

            “Look at me.”  Tom whispered as my breathing against his skin had finally become completely erratic, and my nails were digging so deeply into his scalp that I was certain that I was about to draw blood.  I released another breath as I swallowed thickly inside of my throat, and then I very slowly finally lifted my head. 

            “Jesus Christ, why…am I hearing…bells?”  I panted as I rocked my hips harder against Tom’s hand and then returned my fingers down to his erection that was rubbing against my inner thigh, and subsequently causing my clit to swell thickly with my intense and completely desperate need for him.

            “Mmm…wait…fuck!”  Tom cursed under his breath as he began slowing in his motions over my completely drenched panties, and then he finally released a frustrated breath from between his delicious tasting lips. 

            “No, please don’t stop.”  I begged as I rubbed my fingers slightly faster over Tom’s length, and then rocked my hips once again against his dangerously talented hand.  Tom sighed as he moved his mouth closer toward my lips and then he finally completely removed his hand that had been deliciously working between my legs, and carefully lifted it up to just beneath my chin.

            “The ringing…is the doorbell, Lucy.”  He almost panted against my lips as he groaned as my hand once again moved over him, and my hips then gently hit his.  I sighed in what felt like anguish as I finally ceased in all of my movements, and then I eventually dropped my forehead down to his as I very carefully licked my lips.

            “It’s got to be barely five in the morning.  Who in the hell would be here this early on a Saturday?”  I asked breathlessly as I suddenly began to hear incredibly loud knocking beginning to accompany the continuous ringing of the doorbell.  _I was going to murder whoever was on the other side of that door._

            “I have no fucking idea, but I will go check, and then I will be right back.  I plan to keep you in my bed for quite some time, love.  I would request that you don't dare make a fucking move.”  Tom whispered with small smile as he groaned and then captured my lips with his just one more time before I felt him begin to slightly shift beneath my body.  I nodded slightly as I sighed in annoyance as I hungrily kissed him back, and then I finally pulled myself off of his lap and moved carefully back down onto his bed.  Tom pushed himself up to his feet as he quickly smoothed out his clothes that now appeared quite messy against him, and then he slowly looked back to where I sat in the center of his bed.  I am sure that I looked an absolute wreck with my dress around my waist and my hair most likely in mess on top of my head, but the look in Tom’s eyes didn’t convey that assumption one tiny little bit.  Instead, he licked his lips as he groaned low within his throat just from the sight of me, and then he finally turned toward his door as he began very quietly cursing just beneath his breath.

            The minutes ticked by like hours as I sat waiting in complete frustration for Tom to once again return to his bed, but had Tom returned even a few mere seconds later, it still would not have been soon enough.  My mind raced with deliciously naughty thoughts of all of the things that I planned to do to the man that was now just on the other side of the floor beneath me as soon as he came back upstairs, and as my mind grew more excited, so did the weak flesh of my desperate form.  My blood rushed through my veins as the scent of Tom’s body still lingered heavily on mine, and my heart pounded deep inside of my chest as the feeling of his touch seemed to somehow still ghost lightly across the overheated expanse of my skin.  My body called out for him as I yearned to please every single part of him that he would allow me to get close enough to, and my core continued to throb with a need that he had caused for the first time just slightly earlier in the night.  I wanted him so badly that I could taste my desire as it weighed heavily on my tongue, and I needed him so intensely that I could barely stand the idea of waiting any longer to have him once again.

            “Miss Taylor?  Would you mind coming downstairs, love?”  Tom called from the first  floor of his home in a slightly sterner tone of voice than he had used only a few moments before when he had been pressed so closely against me, but the mere fact that he had beckoned to me caused me to immediately react to him just the same.  I quickly pushed myself up from the bed that I had been laying in as I fixed my dress just enough so that if I was spotted by Emma I wouldn’t appear so incredibly scandalous, and then I quickly made my way to the door just before moving out into the still slightly darkened hallway.  My body hummed with excitement as I happily hopped down the stairs that lay out before me, and then reality quickly slapped me hard in the face the second that the first floor finally came completely into my view.

            “Who was...?”  I began to question in Tom’s direction, but the second my last word so quickly left my lips, I was silenced by what I could only imagine to be fear or simply complete and total shock.  My mouth immediately went dry as my heart dropped quickly into the pit of my stomach just as I took in the vision of the visitor who had so inopportunely interrupted Tom and I only moments before, and then I desperately searched my mind for any sort of sensible words that I could possibly say.   _Holy fucking shit, this had better be some sort of a nightmare._

“Miss Taylor, this chap claims to belong to you.”  Tom said in a very flat even tone of voice as he narrowed his eyes in my direction slightly, and then he relaxed back onto his heels just as he slowly released a heavy breath from between his still slightly kiss swollen lips.  I swallowed thickly as my brain finally caught up with the rest of my completely overwhelmed system, and then I finally forced myself to speak the honestly last word that I could ever have possibly wanted to say that night.

            “Ethan.” 


	8. Chapter 8

_“Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.”  
_ _―_ _William Shakespeare, Macbeth_

* * *

            The heavy pounding of what felt like a hammer beating against the inside of my head was the only sound that I could clearly hear as I sat in the quaint expanse of my home away from home’s incredibly warm living room, and stared blankly back at my fiancé who was sitting on the sofa just next to me.  It had only been just a few minutes since I had finally found the strength to pull myself off of the stairs that I had nearly fallen down the second that I had laid eyes on the man who was supposed to be almost two thousand miles away back in New York City, and just a short time longer than that since I had pulled myself off of my painfully gorgeous literature professor, who I had been only moments away from doing nearly every single inappropriate sexual act that I had ever heard of to, without so much as a single after thought in his obscenely soft king sized bed.  _Had Ethan not shown up I would still be in that bed.  I would still be with him…_

            “Luce?”  I heard Ethan’s voice suddenly ask as he quickly broke through my silent mental wanderings, and immediately reminded me that I had more important things to deal with than that of the most likely huge mistake that I had almost just made with Emma’s dangerously intoxicating older brother.  _And, should I mention once again, my very own literature professor._

            “Um…yeah?”  I stuttered out shakily as I repositioned myself slightly on the sofa where I sat, and then turned my attention back toward Ethan, who was suddenly staring at me with his dark chestnut colored eyes, and most likely wondering why I looked like a worn out cheap floosy at barely six o’clock in the morning.  _I could only imagine how horrible I must have looked._

            “You okay?  You’ve barely said a word to me since I got here, and no offense, but you look like absolute hell.”  Ethan said as he leaned back carefully against the soft slightly worn leather of the sofa behind him, immediately confirming my fears regarding my appearance, and then kicked his feet up onto the coffee table that sat just a few inches away from him.  I rolled my eyes slightly at my fiancé’s all too familiar rudeness, and then I reluctantly forced a fake smile onto my face.

            “Oh yeah, I’m fine.  I’m just tired, I guess.  Um, if you don’t mind me asking though, what exactly are you doing here, Ethan?  It’s barely even sunrise, and aren’t you in the middle of a case?  A case back in New York?”  I asked as I pushed a handful of my slightly tangled hair over my shoulder, and then rubbed my fingers just lightly over the side of my now aching neck.  The second that my fingertips hit the sensitive skin just beneath my ear I immediately froze as heat suddenly rushed over my flesh, and my blood began to rocket intensely through every single one of my once peaceful flowing veins.  _I could still feel his lips on my painfully overheated skin, and hear the sound of his pleasured groans against my flesh._

            “Actually, the case that I was working on when you first left got thrown out for lack of evidence.  A complete waste of my fucking time, but a good deal for my client, because he was definitely fucking guilty.  Anyway, the reason that I am here is because my new client is being prosecuted for tax evasion and fraud, and he lives between New York and London.  I had to come and tie up some loose ends that we need in order to hopefully clear his name, and I figured that since I was here, I would drop by and see how you were doing.”  Ethan explained as I quickly snapped myself back to the reality that I was currently sitting in, and out of the memories that I found myself longing for that had happened just barely a half an hour before.  I quickly cleared my throat uneasily as I forced another falsified smile onto my lips, and then I straightened myself up slightly where I sat.  _Focus, Lucy._

            “Oh, well I am…glad that you did.  How long are you in town for?”  I asked as I released yet another very shaky breath, and then pulled my dress down slightly where it had been sitting rather high against my thighs as I then forced myself not to remember the feeling of Tom’s hands when he had bunched the thin material at my waist just before he had then slid his fingers over my panties that were in all honestly still quite wet.  _I should have been ashamed of myself…I needed to be ashamed of myself._

            “Just until tonight.  I got in a few hours ago, and I have to head to London here soon so that I can get everything that I need while the people that I need to talk to are still around.  I should be done by late this afternoon, though.  You wanna grab dinner before I head back?”  Ethan asked as he turned his head toward me, and then smiled slightly in my direction.  I stared at him for a moment in silence, and then I carefully took in his tired eyes and unusually soft expression.  I released a breath, and then I felt my heart sink just slightly inside of my chest down toward my now very tightly knotted stomach.  _And…now I felt ashamed of myself._

            “Of course.  I have some studying to do today, but I should be done before it’s that late.  It would be great to be able to spend some time with you before you leave.”  I said as I swallowed thickly inside of my throat, and then ran my incredibly anxious slightly shaking fingers through my tangled mess of hairspray coated hair.  Ethan nodded as he turned his eyes toward mine, and then he narrowed his gaze at me slightly before he spoke once again.

            “Sounds good.  Oh, I was meaning to ask you, Luce.  Who was that fucking guy that answered the door earlier when I first got here?”  He asked suddenly once again bringing my heart to life, and my nerves to their nearly ever present state of high alert beneath my skin just at the very mention of the man who had returned to the upstairs just minutes after I had so recently come down to what now felt quite literally like hell on earth. 

            “Um…that…was…Tom.  He’s Emma’s older brother.  This is actually his house.”  I stuttered as I felt the ghosting of Tom’s touch beginning to once again drift over my skin, and immediately cause my heart to throb from deep inside of my chest.  Ethan nodded carefully as he took in the information that I had given to him, and then rolled his eyes slightly inside of his head in what appeared to be great annoyance. _I hadn’t miss my fiancé’s rudeness…not one little bit._

            “Ah, well, I don’t think that _Tom_ liked me too much.  When he answered the door he had a real fucking attitude, and when I told him who I was, he just acted really fucking annoyed.  I thought British people were supposed to be refined or something?”  He asked with a small sarcastic laugh as he stared back at me.  I swallowed hard as I shrugged my shoulders slightly, and then I twisted my suddenly sweat sheened fingers together tightly in my lap.  _Well, no one is going to act very refined when you interrupt them about two seconds before they are about to get laid._

            “Um, I think that he was just tired.  It’s early, and it’s Saturday.  He is actually very _very_ nice.  I’m sure that he was just taken off guard by someone being at the door so early in the day.”  I stuttered as I noticed that my second ‘ _very’_ might have actually been more than just slightly unnecessary, and then I once again adjusted myself where I sat.  Ethan nodded as he then released a very heavy sigh, and then pushed himself up slightly where he sat.

            “I guess that makes sense.  Can I assume that Emma took you out last night?  You usually only look like a painted up prostitute when she drags you out to the bar.  I don’t mean to be an ass, but you must have like an entire can of hairspray in your fucking hair.”  He said with a small laugh as he reached out and just barely touched his fingers to my hair, and then made a very disgusted face when he felt it’s slightly course sticky texture.  I sighed as I felt my stomach knot even tighter, and then a very different kind of shame begin to quickly move through me.  _A very familiar kind that I remembered incredibly well from my lifetime back in the states._

            “Yeah, we just went to a little place a few miles from here.  I…um…passed out when we got home, so I haven’t had a chance to take a shower just yet.  I’ll make sure that I’m cleaned up before you come back later, though.”  I said as I forced yet another smile, and then moved my hair further away from my face and subsequently, further away from Ethan’s touch.  Ethan nodded slowly as he slightly absentmindedly continued to watch me fidget before him, and then released another slightly heavy sounding breath.

            “Well, alright then.  I suppose that I should get the fuck out of here.  I got a cab coming in a few minutes, and then I have to be on a train to London shortly after that.  You want me to call when I am on my way back later?”  He asked as he finally pushed himself up from the sofa, and then made his way back up onto his feet to stand.  I nodded slowly as I followed his movements, and then got up onto my feet as well.

            “Yeah, that would be great.  Then I can make sure that I am ready as soon as you get here.”  I answered as I nodded quickly, and then very anxiously began to shift my weight uneasily between my feet on the incredibly plush carpet where I stood.  Ethan smiled as he slowly began to move closer toward me, and then I felt myself almost instinctively begin to hold my breath just as he leaned down closer toward my very tensely held face.  The world around me seemed as if it was moving in slow motion as for the first time in the past two years I felt myself truly dreading my fiancé’s touch, and my lungs burned painfully as the oxygen that I had recently took in remained desperately trapped within the confines of my small chest.  _Shit, was he going to kiss me?_

            “Good thinking.  Alright, I will see you later then, Luce.  I’m gonna go do this shit with these fucking limp wristed bastards that I can barely understand so that maybe I can actually win a fucking case for a change, and then I will be back here later on tonight.  Behave yourself, and I will see you soon.”  He said as he leaned even closer toward me as I continued to nearly choke on my breath, and then he smiled slightly wider in my direction just as his movements began to finally slow.  _Shit, shit…shit!_

            “Sounds good.”  I answered quickly and just then Ethan eventually leaned down, and he finally kissed me…on my forehead.  _I should have known._

            “Later, Luce.”  Ethan said as he then quickly pulled back away from me, and casually started moving toward the shiny crimson colored front door just to his right hand side.  I smiled to myself as I shook my head in almost disbelief at what had just happened, and then I followed my fiancé’s lead out into the main hallway.

            “Um…later, Ethan.”  I said slowly, and then I watched as he eventually picked up his briefcase that he had set down just to the side of the door, and then he finally made his way completely out of Tom’s house.

            The suddenly empty expanse of the space surrounding me was incredibly quiet as I remained standing in the center of the main first floor hallway, and continued staring at the door that Ethan had just so recently closed behind him, in an almost sort of bewildered state of shock.  I was more than just slightly certain that my fiancé showing up out of the blue just moments before I had finally consummated my very secret lustful crush on my literature professor was God’s way of telling me that I seriously needed to take a good hard look at what it was that I was doing in my life, but no matter how loudly the logical portion of my brain continued to scream at me, I still for some reason felt so incredibly drawn up toward the room of the man that I knew very well that I should stay far away from.  I knew better than anyone that pursuing any sort of involvement with Tom would most likely result in complete emotional tragedy if not the absolute destruction of my law school’s final year, but regardless of what my mind knew, the urge to go to him still remained so painfully strong that it caused my very bones to ache in response to it.  The correct action in this situation would have been for me to simply go up to my bedroom in order to sleep off the night that so recently lay behind me, and to use my fiancé’s unexpected visit as the wakeup call that I was quite certain that fate had originally created it to be, but that action wasn’t at all what the majority of my being actually wanted me to do.  What nearly every illogical bone in my body truly wanted me to do was to run back upstairs as fast as I could and jump into the bed of the man that I had been with just a short while before, and then to kiss him until his lips were so deliciously swollen from my touch that he ached for me just as badly as I suddenly found myself aching for him.  _God, how I still wanted him.  Maybe if I just knocked on his door…_

“Lucy?”  I suddenly heard Emma’s groggy and almost pained sounding voice ask from just a short distance behind me, causing me to finally very slowly turn around, and then immediately take in the very messy view of my dearest (and obviously incredibly hung over) friend.

            “Hey, um…how’s the head, sweetie?”  I asked as I smiled warmly at Emma, and then silently begged my idiotic illogical self to simply pass out for the night before it caused me any further harm or irreversible damage.  Emma tilted her head in my direction in what appeared to be slight question, and then she unsuccessfully attempted to run her long thin fingers through her very tangled mess of golden blonde hair.

            “Absolutely dreadful, but I’m sure that you had already guessed that since you saw how completely bladdered I was last night.  Hey…um...darling, I am certain that I must have been dreaming, but just in case I wasn’t.  Did I somehow hear Ethan’s incredibly annoying voice out here very loudly complaining or was that just a nightmare that I was having?”  She asked as she stared at me in a very confused manner, and then took a small step closer in my direction.  I sighed heavily as I very slowly nodded my head, and then ran my tongue carefully over my now painfully dry feeling bottom lip.  _The sensation of my own tongue against my skin suddenly paled in comparison to that of Tom’s as I slowly wetted my incredibly parched flesh.  God, what was wrong with me?_

            “Yes, actually you did.  He just showed up out of the blue about a half an hour ago, and told me that he was in town on business, and thought that he would stop by.  He had stuff that he said that he had to take care of in London, but he is apparently coming back later on tonight.”  I answered in a very exhausted tone of voice as I shifted my weight slightly anxiously between my feet, and then lifted my tired emerald eyes back up toward Emma.  My friend sighed as she dramatically rolled her eyes, and then made a face that clearly asked, _‘Oh, what the fuck?’_

            “Of course he is, because that would completely ruin our once fabulous weekend.  On another note, you look absolutely wrecked, love.  Have you even been to sleep yet?”  Emma asked as she looked over toward the clock that hung on the wall just to the side of the main entryway, and then eventually back toward me.  I sighed as I quickly dropped my eyes down to the floor beneath my now painfully aching feet just as a small flash of shame moved through my exhausted system, and then I shook my head slowly in my friend’s direction.  _I suddenly felt like I had the scarlet freaking letter printed brightly across my forehead._

            “No, not yet.  I might head up soon though, and at least attempt to get a few hours of sleep.  I have a lot of coursework to get done at some point today, and I of course now have dinner with Ethan tonight.  I have a feeling this isn’t exactly going to be a very restful weekend that we had originally planned on.”  I said with a small half-hearted smile as I once again raised my eyes up to Emma’s, and then shifted my weight uneasily where I stood.  Emma smiled warmly, and then she nodded back toward her room that she had left wide open behind her when she had first come out.

            “Well, how about you come climb in with me for a few hours?  We can have a slumber party just like we used to do back in the dorms.  You remember, back before Ethan came along and ruined everything?”  She asked with a sarcastic smile, and an even more sarcastic inflection in her tone.  I smiled as I sighed heavily, and then I quickly nodded my head in her direction.  _I had to admit, I missed how much fun we used to have back when we had still been undergrads._

            “Sounds great, Emma.  I’m right behind you.”  I said, and then I eventually followed Emma very slowly into her expansive bedroom, and thankfully moved further away from the far too empty first floor hallway.

            A few minutes later, after talking for just a bit and laughing about the night that we had just left behind us, Emma and I finally settled into a peaceful silence in the quaint expanse of her queen sized bed.  I attempted to relax as I cuddled up underneath the incredibly soft blankets just beside my friend, and then I desperately begged myself to stop thinking about the man who I could swear that I could still hear walking around somewhere just upstairs.  So much had changed in just the span of one evening, and now that Pandora’s Box had officially been opened, it seemed as if all of the secrets that I had forced inside of it were rushing out at the speed of light.  There was no more lying to myself about how it was that I felt about my best friend’s older brother, and there was no more attempting to pretend that my feelings for him were simply caused by only my being away from my slightly inattentive fiancé.  I had wanted Tom more than I had ever wanted anyone else in the entire world when I had been up in his room just an hour before tangled in his strong arms, and when I had seen my fiancé just shortly thereafter, I had felt nothing but a completely shameful desperation for the wrong man’s touch.  I knew that I needed to pull my head out of the clouds where it was so obvious that I had drifted to, and I knew that I needed to do it incredibly soon before things got even more so out of hand.  _Nothing good could possibly come from my getting involved with a man such as Professor Tom Hiddleston.  Nothing…_

            It was just nearing one o’clock in the afternoon when I finally pulled myself out of the comfort of Emma’s plush linen shrouded bed, and somehow eventually found the strength to drag myself back up into the safety of my bedroom where all of my most dreaded coursework still so unfortunately awaited me.  Tom had apparently left the house sometime after I had first laid down with Emma earlier that morning as I immediately noticed his car to be gone from its usual spot just at the edge of the driveway, and his absence left me unfortunately undistracted from my work that I did quite honestly desperately need to get done.  Finally after tidying up my room and procrastinating as much as I could possibly excuse, I eventually sat down with a cup of hot coffee at my small oak finished desk, and I dove into all of the madness that was both my law and literature studies.  For hours, I sat pouring over the monologues and law practicums that I was expected to already know by memory, and then finally by the time that it had reached late afternoon, I eventually gave myself permission to take a much needed break.  The smell of alcohol continued to radiate heavily from my pores just as it had ever since the night before as I exhaustedly closed the books that lay scattered out before me, and my head ached as a violent hangover threatened to swiftly move in.  I sighed as I once again pushed away the memories of Tom that continued attempting to take over my now incredibly fragile psyche, and then I once again forced myself up onto my feet to stand.  _I desperately needed a very hot shower, and quite possibly, also a very thorough lobotomy._

            About three hours, two text messages from Ethan, and one far too long shower later, I found myself standing in front of the upstairs bathroom’s vanity mirror, and staring back at myself much as I similarly had done just the evening before.  I wasn’t nearly as made up as I had been when I had originally prepared myself with the help of Emma to go to Ian’s club, but I still looked far different than that of what I had when I had been living back in the states just two months before.  I had switched out my usual pencil skirt and white blouse that I usually wore for nice dinners for a midnight colored cocktail dress that fell just above my knees, and instead of my almost always completely makeup free face, I had applied some dark eyeliner to my emerald eyes and pale pink lip gloss to my full lips.  I had curled my hair just at the ends leaving it smooth, but slightly tousled, and I had applied perfume which was actually a somewhat unusual thing for me to regularly do.  I had made myself look very nice for an evening out with my fiancé before he had to return to New York just shortly later on that night, and I had done so in all honesty, with the hopes that at some point I just might also happen to run into Tom.  _God, what was wrong with me?  I knew that this was wrong.  I freaking knew it!_

“Lucy, Ethan’s cab just pulled up.”  Emma called from downstairs in a very annoyed tone of voice as I heard her sigh dramatically, and then grumble something that I couldn’t quite understand just beneath her breath.  I sighed as I nodded taking one last look in the mirror, and then I finally turned toward the bathroom doorway so that I could once again make my way out into the slightly narrow expanse of the second floor hall.

            “Coming.”  I called back to my friend in a very defeated sounding voice as I mentally scolded myself for not truly looking forward to the night ahead of me, and then I diligently promised myself that I would at least attempt to make the most of the evening since it was the only one that I would mostly likely have with Ethan for the foreseeable future.  _He is your fiancé, Lucy.  You are supposed to want to spend time with him._

On slightly quicker moving feet, but much more shaky legs than the night before, I finally made my way down the staircase that eventually led to the first floor of Emma and Tom’s home, and onto the polished oak landing just to the side of the crimson colored front door.  I released a slightly uneasy breath as I noticed Ethan’s eyes moving skeptically over my unusually decorated form from his place on the opposite side of the entryway, and then I finally turned my attention toward Emma, who was standing just on the edge of the living room wall.  I narrowed my eyes slightly as I took in the vision of my friend who appeared as if she had prepared herself quite thoroughly for a very nice evening out, and then I swallowed thickly inside of my throat, attempting to block out the incredibly eerie feeling that was beginning to rise up from the deepest pit of my already painfully knotted stomach.  _Not tonight, Emma.  I can’t take this kind of shit tonight._

            “You look awfully dressed up, Emma.  Are you going out again tonight?”  I asked slightly uneasily as the palms of my hands immediately began to sweat the second that my question left my mouth, and then I unsuccessfully attempted to swallow against the annoying lump that had once again formed deep inside of my throat.  Emma smiled as she shrugged her shoulders slightly in my direction, and then shifted her weight carefully between her shiny patent leather heel clad feet.

            “Actually, yes I am.  My brother decided that since he and Ethan didn’t have a proper introduction earlier this morning, that it would only be prudent for him to be the one to take everyone out to dinner tonight.  Didn’t Ethan tell you when he texted you that we were all going?  Tom had me call him just about an hour and a half ago in order to extend the invitation.”  She explained as she tilted her head toward me in slight confusion, and then smiled sweetly in my direction.  I turned my eyes immediately back toward Ethan as I felt the color quickly drain from my face, and then my pulse once again begin to throb from deep within the delicate confines of my veins.  _No…No…No…_

            “No, actually he didn’t.”  I said slowly as I felt my heart beginning to do backflips inside of my chest, and my knees begin to shake slightly from just over my feet.  Ethan shrugged as he appeared completely unaffected by the entire situation, and honestly, completely uninterested in anything that was actually currently going on.

            “Sorry, Luce.  I figured that if Emma was calling me, she had most likely talked to you about everything first.  Good old Emma.  Guess some things never change.”  He answered sarcastically as he then rolled his dark eyes, and laughed quietly to himself.  Emma immediately scowled as she turned quickly in Ethan’s direction, and then she lifted her hand just before she began to very loudly speak.  _Here we go._

            “Listen here you little wanker, I…”  Emma started, but she was soon cut off before she could even finish her very heated reply toward my fiancé, by someone else who very unexpectedly suddenly entered the room that surrounded us.  _Oh….shit…._

            “Emma, please behave, darling.  Lucy’s fiancé is our guest, and he should be treated as such.”  Tom’s voice suddenly corrected in his very familiar teaching tone as I turned my head quickly in the direction of the downstairs bathroom, and immediately saw my literature professor come completely into my view for the first time since earlier that morning on the stairs.  _Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.  Did he always have to look that good?_

            I was quite certain that the world around me was in fact definitely still spinning, but to be completely honest, I would have most likely not even noticed if it had suddenly actually stopped.  The second that Tom stepped out into the hallway wearing his dark coal hued suit and crisp ivory colored dress shirt, all logical thought left my once quite impressively functioning mind and my foolish lust consumed heart once again took complete control over my psyche.  My blood rushed through my veins as my eyes drank in the vision of the man who stood just about ten feet away from my touch leaning back on his heels and standing incredibly powerfully, and my heart vibrated against the walls of my chest as memories from the night before once again flooded over the entirety of my mind.  I could feel his skin against my skin and his tongue caressing my mouth as I stared at him with hunger pouring from my gaze, and need radiating from nearly every pore that covered my skin so intensely that I felt that I could not even attempt to stop it.  My hands began to shake as Tom’s eyes finally met mine after what had felt like a lifetime, and then his expression changed just slightly as he completely took me into his view just as I had him only a few moments before. A shudder moved through my system as I desperately watched Tom very slowly lick his delicious tasting lips, and then color immediately flooded my cheeks as he then incredibly knowingly just barely nodded his head carefully in my direction.  _God, I wanted him so badly.  Why did I want him so badly?_     

            “Lucy’s fiancé is a…”  Emma started sharply once again as I finally somehow managed to shake myself from my all-consuming lustful fanaticizing, and then forced myself to turn back toward my friend just as she took a very quick step closer toward Ethan’s side.  Tom immediately shot Emma a very stern look that stopped her quickly in her tracks, and then he once again allowed his eyes to fall back toward me.  I swallowed thickly inside of my throat as I felt a very strange mixture of emotions rush through my system just as Tom’s gaze once again met mine, and then I noticed a nearly blinding flash of heat settle deep within my center, that caused my skin to flush immediately on impact.  _Something was seriously wrong with me.  I think I needed a doctor.  Most likely a shrink._

            “Look, um, it’s really nice of you to offer to take us all out, but it really isn’t necessary.  I’m sure that you must have a lot of papers to grade before Monday, and I’m sure that Emma has…somewhere else that she would much rather be.”  I stuttered as I attempted to think of any and every reason for exactly as to why it was that Emma and Tom could not go out with us that evening, but even I knew that absolutely no reason that I would ever be able to come up with, would change my incredibly dreadful appearing fate.  Tom smiled a very small incredibly sexy smile as he looked over toward me once again, and then he very slowly shook his head in my direction just as he tongue quickly grazed the swell of his bottom lip.

            “Actually, Miss Taylor, I finished everything that I needed to get accomplished earlier this afternoon.  I do, however, still have a few loose ends to tie up from last night that I believe desperately need my tending to, but I have plans to very thoroughly take care of them a little bit later on tonight. However, as of right now, I am completely free and utterly famished, and I would love nothing more than to take all of us out to a nice dinner.  That is, of course, if it is alright with you?”  He asked as his eyes practically burned into mine causing my cheeks to definitely blush, and my blood to almost explode from deep inside of my suddenly overworked feeling veins.  _Excuse me, what the hell did you just say, Professor?_

            “And, I don’t have anywhere to be until later.  Jonathan said that he would take me to go see a band that is playing on campus, and it sounds like they are actually rather good.  Plus, I definitely need to eat something after last night if I am going to do anything other than lay in my bed.  I swear I retched up food this morning that I am certain that I must have eaten last week.”  Emma cut in completely ignoring what her brother had just so vulgarly said to me, and then immediately turned her attention back in my direction.  I swallowed thickly as I forced my eyes to tear away from Tom’s now almost searing stare, and then I safely returned my eyes back to that of my friend’s.  I attempted to regulate my breathing as I desperately searched my brain yet again for any other excuses that I could possibly find in order to avoid what I was quite certain would be a very uncomfortable and incredibly strange evening, but as usual, I could not find a logical one to save my freaking life.  Finally after a few silent moments, I surrendered mercifully to the gods of karma, and then I very reluctantly accepted my fate.  _This was my punishment for kissing one of my professor’s.  My gorgeous, obscenely addictive…professor._

            “Alright, well that sounds great then.  Let’s…um…let’s go.”  I stuttered very ungracefully as I forced a slightly pained smile onto my now just barely shaking lips, and then turned toward the front door that sat just to my left hand side.  Ethan nodded just to the side of me as he took a very casual step forward, and then I noticed Tom beginning to move up behind me just slightly faster than I honestly thought was socially acceptable or at all necessary.  _Keep your distance, Professor Hiddleston.  Keep your distance._

            “Yeah, Luce, let’s go.  Stop arguing about getting a free meal for Christ’s sakes.”  Ethan said with a small laugh as he moved in front of me just behind Emma who had somehow wedged her way between me and the door, and then shook his head slowly back toward me as if I was once again completely insane.  I sighed at my fiancé’s lack of tact that he seemed to always so proudly show, and then I swallowed very thickly just as I suddenly felt the tips of Tom’s long fingers hit the small of my slender slightly exposed back. 

            “You look absolutely ravishing this evening, Miss Taylor.”  Tom whispered against the delicate flesh of my ear as he leaned closer toward me just as Ethan’s back finally turned, and subsequently caused goose bumps to break out over the entire expanse of my now suddenly overheated feeling skin.  _Please, don’t stand so close to me, Tom.  Please…_

            “Hey, Emma.  Wait up.”  I called out almost frantically over Ethan’s shoulder who still stood in front of me, and then I pushed my way past him as quickly as I possibly could.  Nothing good could come from my body being anywhere near that of Tom’s this evening… _nothing._

            After a very smooth (but incredibly nerve wrecking) ride in Tom’s sleek black sports car just around the beautifully darkened outskirts of Cambridge, our party finally made our way to the very posh appearing restaurant that Tom had insisted that he take us to before Ethan eventually departed in just a few hours’ time.  The quaint pale stone constructed building that housed what I had been told was one of the finest Italian eateries in all of East Anglia appeared as if it was quite aged by its slightly Old English appearance, and it also appeared to be very exclusive judging by its very chic and obviously expensive outward décor.  BMW’s and other very high end appearing European sports cars filled the parking lot that Tom very swiftly pulled into going about five miles an hour faster than he honestly should have, and three quite proper looking men dressed in incredibly extravagant designer suits waited just outside of the door where he then eventually shifted into park.  Ethan narrowed his stare just slightly from his place beside me in Tom’s backseat as he took in the space around him which I was quite certain did not resemble anything that he had ever seen before back in New York City, and then he rolled his eyes just slightly as our party was then very formally ushered out of Tom’s car.

            It took about five minutes for the impeccably dressed men who handled the restaurant’s valet service to help us all out of the car and onto the nearby cobblestone sidewalk, and then just a few more minutes after that for Tom to very generously tip all of the men who had assisted us, and then send them very happily on their way.  Emma made a few comments under her breath about her brother’s completely ridiculous and also quite unnecessary payment to the men who had simply opened our doors, and then finally after the two of them had bickered for a couple slightly comical moments, we all eventually made our way in through the restaurant’s main front doors.  The smell of cigar smoke and red wine immediately rushed over my senses as I heard my heels begin to click against the marble flooring that lay just beneath my feet as I moved further into the foyer of the slightly ancient appearing building around me, and then as soon as we reached the hostess station, the sound of hushed classical music began to very pleasantly fill my ears.  The lighting was incredibly dim and the atmosphere was very inviting as I examined the space surrounding me in a sort of appreciative awe, and then I finally turned my eyes back toward my fiancé who was now standing quietly at my side.  I released a breath as I smiled warmly in Ethan’s direction, and then I felt my smile immediately fade as I reluctantly took in the incredibly unimpressed expression on his broad masculine face.  _Of course, he didn’t like it.  Of course…_  

            “Professor Hiddleston, it is so wonderful to see you again.  How many guests of yours do we have the pleasure of seating on this beautiful night?”  A slightly stout dark haired man with a very thick Italian accent asked as he stared up happily at Tom, and then pulled a few very beautifully decorated menus out from just beneath his station.  Tom smiled as he nodded back toward our group, and then leaned closer toward the man who I assumed might just possibly be the restaurant’s actual owner. 

            “I have three guests plus myself this evening, Marco.  How is your family doing back home?”  Tom asked as he smiled brightly at the man who looked so incredibly happy to see him, that it led me to believe that it wasn’t only at the valet that my literature professor was such an incredibly generous tipper. _I couldn’t help but wonder where Tom got all this money to be so…kind and generous._

            “They are very well, Professor, thank you so much for asking.  Would you and your lovely guests like to follow me to your table?  We have moved a few things around so that you can sit where you are most comfortable.”  Marco said as he smiled at Tom, and then took a step in the direction of what I assumed to be the restaurant’s main dining room.  Tom nodded as he bowed his head just slightly in thanks to the man before him, and then smiled brightly once again.  _Jesus, it felt like my literature professor was in the fucking mob or something.  How the hell did he have this much pull?_

“Thank you so much, Marco.  We will be right behind you.”  Tom said respectfully, and then he turned and nodded back toward us just as he began to casually follow the man that now moved slightly faster in front of him.  I watched as Ethan rolled his eyes dramatically at the exchange that had just happened, and then finally we all followed Marco into the dining room just behind Tom.

            About ten minutes later, I found myself sitting at a slightly rounded table just at the back of the dimly lit dining room, and unfortunately seated directly in between both Ethan and Tom.  Emma sat just across from me as she scoured the menu thoroughly just before claiming that she wanted to try something that she had never had before for a change, and Ethan sat to my right hand side casually sipping his glass of red wine.  My nerves were jumping anxiously beneath my skin as I refused to even so much as turn my head in the direction of my literature professor who sat far closer to me than I believed that he honestly should have, and my heart hummed from deep inside of my chest as the scent of his incredibly intoxicating cologne caught just slightly in the early evening air around me.  I released a very shaky breath as I stared down at the menu before me desperately attempting to actually read it, and then I nearly jumped out of my skin as those around me finally began to casually talk.

            “So, Tom is it?  Lucy here tells me that you are a teacher over at the university here in town.  What department do you work in?”  Ethan asked as if he was talking about Tom teaching at a fucking elementary school, and referring to the area that he lived in as if it was just another plain old country town in middle of our country’s Midwest.  _This is Cambridge, Ethan.  Jesus!_

            “Yes, it is _Tom_ , and yes I am a professor at Cambridge.  I work in the English faculty, and I have for some time now.”  Tom said in a very stern and slightly tight tone of voice as he took a quick drink from his tumbler that was filled with the same dark amber colored liquor that I remembered from the night before, and then returned his glass very gracefully back down onto the table just as soon as he was done with it.  _The night before…_

            “Ah, English.  So, what exactly do you teach?  Poetry or something?”  Ethan asked incredibly dismissively as he smiled at me sardonically, and then nodded just before he took a drink of his wine.  I swallowed thickly as I felt the tension rise in the space around me very quickly, and then I prayed that soon a waitress or someone would come and interrupt this awful exchange.

            “Actually, I teach Shakespearean Literature.  Your fiancé is a student in one of my classes.  I am certain that she would be more than happy to tell you how incredibly boring it is.”  Tom answered with the hint of sarcasm dripping from his words as he nodded carefully in my direction, and then dropped his eyes back down toward his menu.  I hesitantly turned my head in my literature professor’s direction, and then glared very angry daggers into the side of his head.  Tom smiled just slightly as he stared down at the food selections before him obviously knowing very well that I was looking at him, and then he ran his tongue very slowly over the swell of his bottom lip.  _I’m going to kill you, Professor.  I am going to screw your god forsaken brains out, and then I am going to kill you._

            “What the fuck are you doing in a literature class, Luce?  Especially a Shakespeare one?”  Ethan asked very ineloquently with a small laugh as he turned his gaze quickly toward mine, and then took another very generous drink from his wine glass.  I swallowed thickly as I licked my suddenly dry feeling lips, and then I cleared my throat gently before I gathered the courage to speak once again.

            “You remember me telling you that I was missing a core English requirement, don’t you, Ethan?  I was…um…lucky enough to find one that was still open, and it strangely enough ended up being Tom’s.  And, it isn’t boring, it’s quite…enlightening.”  I explained rather shakily as I immediately regretted my choice of word for describing Tom’s class, and then noticed that my literature professor’s eyes finally lifted up toward mine just before he smiled in my direction.  For a moment we stared at each other in a very strange silence, and in that moment, I felt as if we were somehow completely alone in the restaurant.  _Jesus, his eyes were beautiful.  It was unfair that they were that beautiful._

            “Oh yeah, I guess.  Well, you should have no trouble passing then, right?  Having your best friend being your teacher’s sister can’t hurt your grade, can it?  I mean even if it _is_ Emma.”  Ethan said with a laugh as he smiled at me, and then turned his eyes back toward Tom’s as he playfully winked.  Tom did not appear to be impressed by my fiancé’s little joke, but before he could respond, another person at our table decided to chime in.

            “Listen here, Ethan!  I am getting bloody fuck…”  Emma started, but she quickly stopped as her eyes quickly turned toward my side of the table, and then lifted up toward the space just above my head.  I narrowed my eyes attempting to figure out what it was that she was looking at that had somehow gained the power to quiet her, but then had my answer given to me soon enough.

            “Good evening, Professor.”  The deep seductive voice of a woman who I suddenly found standing behind me said just before Emma could finish her most likely curse filled tirade, and just after I watched Ethan’s eyes widen appreciatively at my side.  I released a heavy breath as I slowly turned halfway around, and then I took in the unfortunately incredibly beautiful view of the dark haired woman staring down very affectionately toward Tom with eyes practically consumed with lust.

            “Natalie, darling.  How are you?”  Tom asked as a smile flooded onto his face just as he pushed himself up quickly to stand, and then he very lovingly embraced the woman now standing very close to his side.  A very strange feeling began pouring up from deep inside of me the second that I watched my literature professor begin to touch the woman that honestly had the good enough looks to be a supermodel, and it was a feeling that ironically I had never before really ever truly felt in my life before.  _Jealousy._

            “I am doing well, and how are you tonight?”  The incredibly beautiful woman now known as Natalie asked as she pulled back away from Tom, and then ran her eyes very hungrily over his impeccably dressed form.  My fingers tightened together in my lap as I turned my eyes away from my professor and his _friend_ , and then immediately noticed that Emma was watching me with a very wide knowing sort of smile on her face.  _Don’t look at me like that, Emma.  You can’t even begin to understand._

            “I am fantastic, thank you darling for asking.  Natalie, you obviously already know my sister, but I would like you to meet Miss Lucy Taylor.  She is a brilliant law student from New York who is finishing her studies here at Cambridge this year, and this is her first time here at _Marco’s_.”  Tom introduced, immediately confirming my earlier suspicions about the man who had seated us, and unfortunately drawing attention toward me that I honestly did not want to have.  _Fuck, I really didn't want to talk to Natalie._

            “It is…a pleasure to meet you, Natalie.”  I choked out slightly as I felt my nerves once again getting the better of me, and then reached out my hand toward the woman still standing above me just as Tom finally returned to his seat.  Natalie smiled warmly as she looked me over very carefully, and then she took my hand gently just before she glanced back toward Tom.

            “She is lovely, Professor.  I can see that your tastes have not changed.”  She said as she ran her tongue seductively over her full bottom lip, and then winked playfully toward Tom.  I felt my skin flush about five different colors as I wondered if Ethan had heard what the woman had just said, and then I turned my attention back toward Tom just as I heard the low rumble of his laughter begin to quietly ring out.  _Not funny, Professor.  Not funny._

            “Actually, Natalie.  Miss Taylor is very close friends with my sister, and also a student in one of my classes.  She is here with her fiancé tonight, not with me.”  He said as he nodded over toward Ethan who was quite disgustingly now ogling Natalie’s slightly exposed breasts, and then he cleared his throat slightly just after he spoke.  I released an anxious breath as I glanced out of the corner of my eye over toward Tom, and I noticed that he was very carefully watching me with a far too bright smile on his gorgeous face.

            “Oh, well my apologies then, Lucy.  I suppose that whenever I see a beautiful young woman with Tom, I just assume that she is most likely with him.  I have yet to meet one that has been able to resist his charms or honestly one that has ever even actually tried.”  Natalie said with a smile as she bit down slightly on her thick bottom lip as she watched Tom carefully, and then finally turned back toward me and smiled.  I swallowed thickly as I noticed the all too knowing look in the woman’s eyes standing above me, and the incredibly coy grin that played heavily on her full pouty perfectly painted lips.  I swallowed thickly as realization eventually finally then hit me, and jealously once again quickly swooped in.  _Ugh, she had definitely slept with him._

            “Oh sweet Jesus, I need a drink.”  I accidently said out loud without the permission of my brain, and then once again attempted to ignore that light rumble of laughter coming from deep within Tom’s chest most likely in regards to the quiet outburst that I had just made. 

            “If you need a drink, I can definitely get you one, love.  What’s your poison?”  Natalie immediately asked strangely seductively as she leaned down closer toward me, and then smiled warmly in my direction.  I swallowed thickly as I looked at those at the table around me who had been smart enough to order more than just water like me, and I racked my brain for the names of any alcohol that I could think of that would possibly stop the anxious jumping of my nerves from just beneath my skin.  Finally, my eyes settled on the glass of the man sitting next to me, and then eventually I turned my gaze back up toward the woman who strangely enough now appeared to be our waitress.

            “Um….well…what is it that he is drinking?”  I asked as I pointed toward Tom’s glass carefully, and then narrowed my eyes just slightly up toward Natalie.

            “It’s Jameson, darling.  You’ve had it before.  If I recall correctly, you enjoyed it quite thoroughly.”  Tom answered very seductively in place of our waitress as he lifted his tumbler back up to his lips, and then took a quick drink before he then flirtatiously nodded his head.  I swallowed thickly as the evening before once again rushed into my mind, and sensations that I had been so desperately fighting for the past twelve hours flooded through my nearly completely helpless system.  _God, I missed the way his hands felt on my skin._

            “Make it a double.”  I said quickly as I looked up at Natalie, and then forced another slightly pained smile onto my face.  Natalie gave me an all too knowing nod as she slowly smiled in return as well, and then she once again licked her full rose colored lips.

            “Coming right up.”  She said, and then after that she diligently took the drink order for the rest of the table, and then finally eventually disappeared from our view.  _Thank God._

            After about ten minutes of slightly mindless chit chat and continuing to pour over the restaurant’s extensive menu, our table finally settled into peaceful conversation and once again carried on with our night.  Natalie returned with our drinks about five minutes after she had originally taken our order and of course once again shamelessly flirted with my literature professor that sat just at my side, and Emma recanted to anyone that would listen to her the horrors that she had experienced when shopping in London just a few months before.  I sat quietly after I reluctantly ordered food that I was quite certain would never get eaten, and I laughed at all of the appropriate times when my fiancé attempted to make a joke that no one else understood.  Finally, after I had very quickly finished the incredibly strong drink that our very seductive waitress had so happily delivered to me, I allowed myself to breathe and to simply enjoy the fact that so far nothing had actually gone so horribly wrong.  It was then, unfortunately, when I was finally allowing my heartrate to return to a somewhat normal pace and my blood to slow from its racing deep inside of my veins, that the gods of karma apparently decided that they had not yet finished doling out their punishment for what I had done just the evening before.  _Karma was in fact quite a bitch, of that much I was certain._

            “Yeah, Luce here has always been a big softie when it comes to the world around her, and I have told her over a thousand times that in law there is just no fucking room for that shit.  Law is about logic, principal, and swift justice.  It isn’t about doing what your heart thinks is right.”  Ethan said as he stabbed his fork down into his salad that had just been delivered a few minutes before, and then nodded back toward Emma who had been originally speaking about how the government in America had forgotten about what it was to show kindness to its citizens.  I rolled my eyes as I knew that a large argument was quickly coming, and then I felt my leg jump just slightly as I suddenly felt Tom’s hand brush against the outside of my thigh almost too gently.  _My skin immediately broke out in goose bumps, and my system almost automatically went on high alert._

            “There is a difference between thinking only with your heart, and having absolutely no heart at all, Ethan.  There is a balance, and I seriously think that your government needs to find it.”  Emma quipped back as she widened her eyes toward my fiancé just after making her point, and then reached out for her glass of white wine that was sitting just in front of her.  I swallowed thickly as I felt Tom’s knuckle slide up over the side of my thigh, and then move very slowly just below the hem of my thin cocktail dress.  My heart began to pound roughly from deep inside of my chest as I then felt his hand then move just slightly higher, and his fingertips begin to gently caress the flesh just on the inside of my knee.  _Oh, this was bad….this was very….very bad.  But, sweet Jesus, it felt good._

            “I think our government has plenty of heart, Emma.  We have one of the largest welfare programs in the fucking world, and a mind boggling level of debt from helping out other countries when they are in a tight spot.  How is that not having a heart?”  Ethan asked sounding very annoyed at my friend, and then he turned back toward me and widened his eyes as if he was waiting for me to for some reason chime in.  I smiled anxiously as I felt my skin flush just as Tom’s hand moved slightly higher once again, and then I quickly turned my eyes away from my fiancé and over toward my literature professor, who I was now quite certain had obviously lost his fucking mind.

            “You might have welfare and debt, but you also have police officers who beat people down in the streets and a president who has no issue declaring war on practically defenseless countries.  That is all that I am saying, Ethan.”  Emma retorted as she shrugged her shoulders slightly, and then poked slightly at her salad seeming sadly disappointed in its apparent quality.  I released a slightly shaky breath as I attempted to catch Tom’s eyes that seemed to be focused intently in on his sister and my fiancé’s quite riveting conversation, but of course my effort was completely moot in its effect.  I ran my tongue slowly over my lips as I felt Tom’s hand move yet again even higher, and then I finally dropped my hand down onto my lap just as I felt a rush of heat quickly move across my most delicate skin.

            “Criminals need to be beat down and sometimes war is necessary, Emma.  Lucy, what do you think about all of this?”  Ethan asked as he turned toward me just as I finally caught Tom’s hand just before he got any closer toward my panties, and then he widened his eyes slightly as he very anxiously appeared to await my reply.  I swallowed very thickly as I wrapped my fingers around Tom’s hand with every intention of pulling his touch immediately away from me, but then I found myself, desperately gripping his long fingers instead.

            “I think that…that there is a…balance with everything.  There needs to be equal parts justice, and…equal parts understanding.”  I stuttered out as I quickly faked another smile, and then felt Tom’s hand tighten almost reassuringly around mine.  I swallowed thickly as I felt my skin begin to burn and my blood begin to rush just as I finally forced myself to release my literature professor’s fingers from mine, and then I felt my breathing begin to slightly quicken as I felt his fingers then slip very slowly between my thighs.  _Lucy, you have to stop this.  He is your professor.  Your fiancé is sitting next to you.  The reasons to stop this are endless._

            “Tom, what do you think?  Please tell me that at least the other man at this table has some common sense?”  Ethan asked as he turned his attention toward the man who now had his fingers pressing just slightly against the silk material of my onyx colored panties, and had very slowly begun tracing circles just over the material that covered my suddenly overly sensitive clit.  _Oh, sweet Jesus, I was already so wet._

            “I believe much as Miss Taylor does, Ethan.  There is a balance with everything, and that of course includes any country’s government.  I believe that there is a time when you need to be gentle and show incredible kindness, and that there is also a time when you need to be aggressive and forceful in your action.  As a government, you need to be able to assess your people’s…needs.  Then, you must to be able to satisfactorily meet them.”  Tom explained as he then added just a slight amount stronger of pressure to his fingertips that caressed the now dampened material that covered my core, and in turn caused me to allow one of my hands to desperately clutch the table cloth that hung just above my legs.  _Fuck that felt good._

            “See Ethan, everyone agrees with me.  Lucy, are you alright?  You look really pale, love.”  Emma said as she turned her attention toward me with a very concerned appearing expression on her face just as I felt Tom’s fingers dip just below the material of my panties, and for the first time ever, finally touch the very delicate bare skin of my core.  _All air dissipated from my lungs immediately on contact, and my clit suddenly became painfully wet with my desire._

            “I…I’m fine.  I…think I’m just…tired…from last night.”  I stuttered out as Tom’s fingertips gently caressed the soft flesh of my lower lips, and then began moving slowly toward my center that honestly ached desperately for his touch.  _Please touch me…  Please…_

            “Yeah, when I got in this morning, Lucy looked like fucking hell.  I heard that you took her out to the bar last night, Emma.  I can see that you still do not believe in growing up like the rest of us.”  Ethan directed toward Emma just as Tom’s fingers once again purposefully avoided my clit, but continued torturing me and caused my pulse to throb from deep inside of my core, and caused my nipples to pebble painfully hard against my dress.  I moved my hips forward just slightly in my seat now operating unfortunately completely on animal instinct alone, but still at least attempting to not be too conspicuous in my actions, and then I finally turned my attention toward Tom who was smiling just slightly down toward his still mostly full salad plate.  _This was not funny, Professor._

            “I would rather act young and enjoy my life, than act like an old man and completely waste it, Ethan.”  Emma jabbed back at my fiancé just as Tom’s finger finally slid over the drenched expanse of my clit, and subsequently pulled a groan from between his thin lips as I watched him very quickly close his beautiful eyes.  I felt my core immediately become even wetter with the desire that I felt completely now taking me over as I watched the lust filled expression on my literature professor’s face, and then I bit down on my lip as I felt Tom’s finger begin to very slowly begin to rub circles over my completely drenched delicate flesh.  _Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.  This felt better than actual sex._

            “And, that is exactly what I would expect a child to say.”  Ethan retorted toward Emma, and then once again took a drink from his glass.  I shuddered once again as I felt Tom’s finger slowly begin to pick up in its pace, and then I carefully slid my hand that had been gripping the tablecloth, over to the top of his leg.  Tom moved his free hand over to almost protectively cover mine, and then he allowed me to grip his fingers as I felt deep sensations of pure pleasure begin to pulse almost painfully deep inside of my core.

            For the next few seconds, I was quite certain that Emma and Ethan continued to bicker before me, but I honestly could not hear them as my attention had suddenly been completely stolen by that of Tom.  My heart pounded roughly inside of my chest as I slowly turned my eyes toward the man who sat so close beside me torturing me relentlessly, and I dug my fingernails painfully deep into his skin as he continued to rub breathtaking circles over the slick flesh of my now painfully throbbing clit.  I bit down on my lip as I felt all of the muscles deep within my stomach begin to tighten almost to the point of pain inside of me, and then I swallowed a whimper just as Tom’s beautiful ocean colored eyes finally met mine.  His gaze was intense and his movements were dangerously skilled as he brought me closer and closer to an edge that I felt as if I had never been near before, and then just as I felt that I might topple helplessly over that edge, I gripped his hand as tightly as I possibly could.  My legs began to shake as I felt my skin flush completely of its color, and then just as my body prepared itself to finally give in, I quickly felt the floor drop out from under me as my bliss come to a very swift end.

            “How is everything here, everyone?”  Natalie’s voice suddenly asked from just behind me nearly causing me to jump completely out of my skin, and unfortunately causing Tom to very quickly withdraw his hand from between my now violently trembling thighs.  I swallowed thickly as Natalie smiled down very knowingly at me as the others around me answered her question very diligently, and she completely ignored them as her eyes remained carefully fixated on me.

            “Everything is great, thanks babe.”  Ethan said lamely from my side as he once again lifted his eyes to Natalie’s low cut neckline, and then nodded toward her as she completely ignored his view.  I swallowed thickly as I watched Natalie lean down very slowly toward me as if I was the only person sitting at the large table, and then she eventually settled very uneasily close to my ear.

            “You are lovely, darling, but I would put your big girl knickers on quick and hold on very tight.  There is a reason that all of the women in this town fall all over Tom when he walks into a room, and trust me, it isn’t his huge brain that we all so obviously desire.  You have no idea what sort of delicious trouble that you are getting yourself into, love, and you are gonna hate yourself for how much you are about to enjoy it.”  She whispered as she then very quietly giggled against my ear, and then once again righted herself back up onto her feet.  My heart thudded loudly from inside of my chest as I swallowed thickly attempting to take in Natalie’s very cryptic words, and then very carefully I turned my attention back toward Tom.  My literature professor stared at me with intense breathtaking ocean colored eyes as he slowly allowed one of his fingertips that had been just between my thighs only seconds before to glide gently across his lips, and the magnitude of his stare caused fear to move through me in an instant.  What the hell was I doing allowing this man that I barely knew to touch me while my fiancé was sitting so close beside me, and why hadn’t I fought it barely at all like I knew that I should have?  How had I let things get so completely out of control between me and Tom so quickly just over the past twenty-four hours, and more importantly, why didn’t I honestly want to stop it? 

           

           

 

 

           

           


	9. Chapter 9

_“And where two raging fires meet together, they do consume the thing that feeds their fury.”_

_―  William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet_

* * *

 

The quaint expanse of the luxuriously decorated restaurant bathroom spun wildly around me as I stood staring blankly back at the reflection of myself that I honestly no longer even truly recognized, and the completely unsettling motion of my incredibly chaotic thoughts that raced wildly inside of my head, caused my stomach to knot even tighter than it had been in the dining room only a few moments before.  I had washed my slightly shaking hands just about five times since I had so abruptly excused myself from my party’s table almost immediately after our strangely seductive waitress had once again taken her leave from us, and I had no intention of stopping in my slightly obsessive movements, since I apparently could no longer be trusted being even anywhere near the same immediate space as that of Tom.  I wrung my hands together even tighter under the warm water of the silver plated faucet that was honestly very seriously lacking in its pressure as I just slightly began grinding my teeth lightly against each other, and then I once again played out the scene that had just so recently happened, inside of my head.  My eyes fell closed as if on instinct as the feeling of Tom’s large strong hand between my thighs immediately took over the confines of my mind, and my hands suddenly dropped down to the smooth porcelain of the sink before me as if to somehow brace me for the whirlwind of sensation that I knew was very quickly to come just from my own slightly masochistic thoughts.  My fingernails dug roughly into the cool hard stone surface beneath my touch as my core once again so quickly became drenched with the desire that my body no longer seemed able to even attempt to fight, and then I bit down hard on the soft full swell of my bottom lip as I felt my knees beginning to shake beneath me just as they had at the table only a few minutes before.  Tom’s touch had been so satisfying, passionate, and intense that I had completely ignored the possibility of any consequences that could have incurred due to our incredibly reckless public behavior, and I had ignored those very real consequences with my fiancé sitting just at my other side.  I had acted foolish, selfish, and as if I was a teenager who had just tasted danger for the first time with absolutely nothing to lose.  The problem was that I wasn’t a teenager, and I did have something to lose.  _I had a lot to lose._

            “Are you alright in here, Lucy?”  I suddenly heard Emma’s soft voice ask as the golden hued door of the ladies bathroom just to the right hand side of me slowly swung open, and then my friend’s beautiful smiling face eventually came completely into my view.  I straightened myself up right as I quickly turned off the water that I had most likely had running now for almost ten full minutes, and then I forced a smile onto my previously tensely held face that I prayed at least appeared to be somewhat convincing. 

            “Yeah, I just needed a few minutes.  I think the whiskey must have gone to my head.”  I said referring to the double shot of Jameson that I most likely should not have drank so quickly, but that had thankfully at least somewhat calmed my now nearly completely fried nerves.  Emma smiled as she nodded her head slowly, and then she leaned her slender frame very carefully against the wall in front of me as she narrowed her pale aquamarine colored eyes slightly skeptically in my direction.

            “Whiskey has a tendency to do that, love, that is actually its primary selling point.  However, I don’t think that it was the whiskey that caused you to practically run from our table as if it was on fire just a few minutes ago.”  She said as she nodded her head toward me knowingly, and then slightly widened her gaze in my direction.  I froze immediately after my friend’s words had completely drifted into the air around us, and then I swallowed thickly against the lump that had of course once again formed deep inside of my throat.   _Oh shit, did she know?  She couldn’t know…could she?_

            “Um…what…do you mean?”  I stuttered out uneasily as I began to shift my weight slightly anxiously between my feet, and then smoothed my hands over my dark colored cocktail dress that was honestly hanging perfectly intact without my very unnecessary help.  _Please God, don’t let her know.  Please…_

            “I mean that you have been a wreck ever since Ethan got here this morning, and honestly darling, I can’t say that I blame you.  All he does is say horribly prickish things to everyone around him, and then he takes little jabs at you whenever he finds the chance.  He’s an absolute arsehole, and it’s obvious that you don’t want him here.  Trust me, love.  No one in your position would want him here either.”  Emma explained as she pushed her body very carefully away from the wall beside her, and then took a few small steps closer toward me.  I released an incredibly relieved breath as I silently thanked God that it had been my fiancé’s poor attitude that my friend had believed was the reason why I appeared so incredibly disheveled, and then I forced another fake smile onto my lips.

            “Ethan is just…Ethan, Emma.  He isn’t an asshole or a prick, he’s just…well, he’s a New Yorker.  He is very blunt with his words, and he says what’s on his mind a lot of times without thinking.  I know that sometimes his way of speaking comes out very rough and what sounds to be sarcastically, but he honestly doesn’t mean any harm with the things that he says.  Also, it’s not that I don’t want him here or that I am upset that he came.  It’s just that…I wasn’t expecting him, so this all kind of took me off guard.  The fact that I have barely slept since Thursday night doesn’t help much either.”  I said as I finally sighed, and then crossed my arms uneasily over my now almost heaving chest.  _Why did I suddenly feel so nervous?_

“Lucy, you and I have been friends for a very long time and after all of these years my love, I have learned to be able to tell when you are lying.  Ethan is an arsehole and also a prick, and you very well know it.  You have been having fun here for the first in…well…in forever, and when he showed up you felt like he was ruining it.  You don’t have to be ashamed of enjoying yourself while you are away from home, Lucy.  But, maybe you should think about the fact that you never have any fun with him and ask yourself if you honestly want that to be the rest of your life.”  Emma said in a very sympathetic tone as she smiled a very knowing smile in my direction, and then slowly nodded her head.  I swallowed thickly as I dropped my eyes down to the marble tiled floor that lay just beneath my feet, and then I shifted my weight again just slightly where I stood.

            “Yes, I should be ashamed, Emma.  I should be ashamed because…”  I started as for a split second I seriously considered at least partially telling my best friend what it was that I had so fruitlessly been struggling with inside of my own mind, but then I was swiftly stopped by the gods of fate or actually in reality, the banging of someone’s hand on the outside of the bathroom door.

            “Lucy!  Emma!  I hate to interrupt girl time, but I have a flight to catch in just about two hours.  I really need to get to the fucking airport soon, girls.  I don’t suppose that your feminine pow-wow could wait until later on tonight?”  Ethan called in a very annoyed sounding voice as he once again pounded on the outside of the bathroom door, and then let out a frustrated sounding sigh loud enough for me to very clearly hear it.  Emma nodded back toward the door with her signature _‘See what I am talking about’_ type of expression, and then she smiled warmly toward me once again.

            “Let’s talk about this later, love.  For now, let’s go attend to the drama queen outside before he disturbs the entire restaurant or breaks down the bloody fucking door in the process.”  Emma said as she took a step closer toward me, and then gently took a hold of my hand.  I nodded as I released a slightly shaky breath and then tightened my fingers around my friend’s almost instinctively.  _I didn’t know how I had survived the past two years in America without her._

            “Good idea.”  I replied, and then Emma and I quickly made our way out of the slightly tense air of the ladies bathroom, and back into the most likely even more tense air of the restaurant.

            Once back in the main foyer of _Marco’s_ , I noticed that both Tom and Ethan were standing by the hostess station, and that Tom was being handed back his very shiny black credit card after apparently settling our party’s dinner bill.  He conversed happily with a woman who I hadn’t yet seen during our slightly short evening visit as she then handed him his receipt just after she batted her thick overly mascara coated eyelashes at him playfully, and then he thanked her first with his incredibly kind words, and then swiftly thereafter with a small handful of bills.  I sighed as I once again questioned how a literature professor could afford to tip so generously just for a casual dinner, and then I turned my attention toward Ethan who was now checking his watch while anxiously tapping his foot against the beautifully polished marble floor.  I rolled my eyes knowing that he had more than enough time to get to the airport in order to catch his late night flight well before it boarded, and then I finally forced myself to move closer toward his incredibly tensely held side.  I took in a deep breath as I reached out and touched the edge of his suit coat clad arm with one of my slightly shaking fingers, and then I reminded myself that just only two months before I had been content (well at least somewhat) in my relationship with this man.  _You have known him for years, Lucy.  You have known Tom for just barely eight weeks._

            “Are you alright, Ethan?  I promise that we will still make it to the airport on time.  The taxi’s here are very fast, and Heathrow honestly isn’t that far.”  I reassured as I forced another smile onto my still slightly glossy lips, and then I rubbed my fingers gently against Ethan’s arm.  _The motion felt strange and oddly uncomfortable, but I continued doing it just the same._

            “Don’t make promises that you can’t keep, Luce.  You have no idea what traffic is going to be like here on a Saturday night.  Shit, what the fuck is taking him so long?  Can’t he just get that bitch’s phone number so that we can go already?  It can’t possibly take this long to pay a fucking bill.”  Ethan complained incredibly rudely as he stared daggers at Tom’s back, and then rolled his eyes very dramatically inside of his head.  I sighed as I quickly withdrew my touch from Ethan’s arm feeling immediately disgusted with his behavior, and then I ran my fingers quickly through my long sandy colored hair.

            “Tom is just being polite, Ethan.  Etiquette is very important here, and since he seems to know the owner personally, I’m sure that he just wants to make sure that they know that he is appreciative for them getting us in when it was obvious that they were completely full when we got here.  It’s just a little after nine and your flight doesn’t leave until midnight.  We will get there, don’t worry.”  I reassured without any true emotion in my voice as I took a small step back away from my fiancé, and then shifted my weight anxiously where I stood once again.  Ethan huffed loudly as he rolled his eyes once again in my direction.  _Oh, I really hated when he did that._

            “With as much money as he has forked over tonight, they should be the ones kissing his ass not the other way around, Luce.  I don’t care if this is England or not.  You are nice to the person with the cash.  That’s just the way that it fucking works.”  He said in an almost mean sort of tone just as Tom finally said his goodbyes to the sweet looking woman behind the hostess station, and then eventually turned around back toward us.  I felt my heart once again come to life inside of my chest as Tom’s eyes briefly met mine from across the small distance between us in the foyer, and then I quickly dropped my gaze down to the floor as I moved back closer toward Ethan.  _Lucy, you have to stop this._

            “My apologies for keeping you all waiting.  Shall we be on our way now?”  Tom asked as he obviously had heard what Ethan had said as the tense expression on his face immediately gave him away completely, and then he nodded toward the door just behind where we all stood.  I nodded quickly before Ethan had another chance to so idiotically speak, and then I forced a very bright (and completely falsified) smile onto my face.

            “Yeah, I think that Ethan is just anxious to get to the airport.  International flights can be a real mess, especially with security.”  I said as I turned slightly, and then nodded toward Ethan to follow me toward the door.  Tom nodded as he followed behind us just as Emma pushed open the main front door in front of us, and then we all finally stepped out into the cool late evening autumn air.

            “I completely understand.  Would it be of any help if I took you to the airport myself, instead of you having to take a taxi?  I am quite certain that I can get you there much faster, and also it would save you a good amount of cash to not have to pay for the lift.”  Tom offered as we continued making our way down the long newly paved appearing sidewalk that led out toward the parking lot, and away from the still quite bustling expanse of the quaint restaurant.  My heart sped up immediately inside of my chest at Tom’s words, and my nerves immediately went on high alert beneath my skin.  _No…no, that would not be of any help, Tom._

            “That is really kind of you, Tom, but that really isn’t necessary.  I’m sure that…”  I started anxiously as I felt my knees once again beginning to shake just beneath me, and my pulse quickly picking up in its pace from deep inside of my veins.  Ethan’s eyes turned toward me immediately, and his expression regarding what I had just so recently said did not appear to be even the slightest bit happy at all.

            “Lucy, could you please stop speaking for me?  Christ!  Yes, it would be a huge help if you would drive me to the airport, Tom.  This trip has cost me enough already, and frankly, I don’t want to chance it with the cab drivers that I have seen out here so far.”  Ethan answered as he turned his eyes quickly away from mine, and then back toward Tom.  Tom’s expression immediately chilled as his jaw quickly tightened and his eyes narrowed down toward Ethan in what almost appeared to be a slightly mild form of rage.  I swallowed thickly as I took a step closer toward my fiancé, and then I dropped my eyes down toward the sidewalk just beneath my feet.  _Shit, this did not look good._

            “I do believe that your fiancé was merely attempting to be courteous to me in her denial of my offer, and not attempting to be rude to you with her interjection, Mr. Lancaster.  I can assure you that it would be my pleasure to escort you to the airport, but that is only if you speak to Miss Taylor like she is a woman and not as if she is an inconvenience.  I don’t know how it is that you New Yorkers speak to the women that you are involved with back in America, but here in England, we do not conduct ourselves in such a disrespectful manner.  As long as that matter is clear, I will gladly get us on our way.”  Tom said in a very low stern tone of voice that sent shivers down my spine, and caused my skin to prickle with goose bumps from the top of my scalp all the way down to the tips of my toes.  Ethan swallowed thickly as he looked up at Tom with what almost appeared to be a slight amount of fear in his dark eyes, and then he very slowly nodded his head.

            “Gotcha, chief.”  He responded with a slight edge of sarcasm in his somewhat wavering voice, and then he carefully nodded his head in understanding.  Tom kept his eyes on Ethan as I noticed Emma smiling from just behind him with a very proud expression on her soft face, and then finally after a few moments, Tom released his stare and turned back toward the valet just before nodding his head.  _No one had ever stood up for me like that before…_

            A few seconds later as we all stood silently waiting for the valet to dig Tom’s car out of the back of the expansive restaurant parking lot, the wind around me suddenly felt as if it had gotten much colder than it had been only a few moments before, and I eventually found myself shivering in my small incredibly thin excuse for a dress.  I rubbed my hands up and down over my arms as I attempted to somehow attempt to get warm, and then I turned slowly back toward Ethan, who was now mindlessly messing with his phone.  I sighed as I continued attempting to warm myself in hopes that Ethan would notice my incredibly chilled fidgeting and uncharacteristically come to my aide, but instead his eyes simply remained glued to his small illuminated cellphone screen.  I rolled my eyes as I remembered the morning in the airport before I had first left to come to England, when he had barely even noticed that I was still there due to that stupid fucking device, and then I quickly pushed my thoughts away from my mind just before I finally decided to actually speak.

            “It’s freezing out here.”  I said softly as I moved somewhat closer toward Ethan’s side, and then rested my shoulder just slightly against his.  Ethan shook his head slowly as he smiled almost sarcastically to himself, but of course, he did not even barely look up from the now quickly flashing screen of his phone.  _What the fuck was he even doing on that thing?_

            “That is why the rest of us are wearing jackets, Luce.  Maybe you shouldn’t have worn such a little dress when it’s so cold outside.”  Ethan said in a slightly taunting tone of voice as he continued looking down at the bright screen that he held tightly between his hands which now appeared to have some sort of idiotic game displayed, and then he shook his head just slightly once again.  I sighed as I finally nodded my head in the direction of my fiancé, and then I eventually just crossed my arms over my chest in a very familiar sense of defeat.

            “I guess when you’re right, you’re right, Ethan.”  I mumbled quietly as I turned my eyes out toward the overly packed parking lot before me just as I heard Ethan’s phone strangely actually begin to ring, and then I quickly returned my gaze in his direction.

            “I gotta take this.  Yell if the car comes around.”  Ethan said quickly as he nodded at me just before he hit a button on his keypad, and then began talking to someone that sounded as if they were calling from his work.  I rolled my eyes in slight annoyance, and then I finally relaxed back slightly on my heels.  _I really hoped that the valet got Tom’s car out here soon, I really needed to get away from this fucking restaurant._

            “Miss Taylor?”  I heard Tom’s low melodic voice suddenly ask very softly from just beside me as Ethan finally disappeared behind the slightly darkened expanse of the restaurant’s pale colored stone building, and the gentleness in his tone caused me to immediately turn around in order to face him.  I swallowed thickly as I lifted my eyes up toward Tom’s that were staring down at me very intensely from just a few inches in front of me, and then I dropped them just slightly when the emotion behind them became just a little too much for me to bear.  Silently, I watched as my literature professor very carefully unbuttoned his dark coal colored suit jacket, and then slowly shrugged it off of his broad shoulders until it was eventually completely free from his long strong arms.  Tom then draped the warm wool material incredibly gently around my slightly trembling bare shoulders, and then he slid his hands carefully beneath the collar, just before very tenderly freeing my hair from beneath the incredibly soft material.  I felt my heart begin to throb from deep inside of my chest as I once again lifted my eyes to the man that stood so silently before me, and then I quietly reveled in the feel of his touch as it just barely grazed the slightly sensitive skin that covered the sides of my delicate neck.  I swallowed thickly once again as I opened my mouth in order to force myself to say something to the man standing before me, but I immediately stopped, just as Tom very slowly began to shake his head.

            “A fool is a man who doesn’t realize what he is so lucky to have right in front of him, Miss Taylor.  But, an even bigger fool is a man who so desperately wants what he isn’t supposed to have.”  He said softly as he continued to stare intensely down into my eyes, and then began to rub his hands very gently over the now quickly warming material covered flesh of my still slightly shaking arms.  I felt my lips begin to quiver as the incredibly eloquent words that Tom had just spoken continued to ring loudly inside of my head, and then my knees began to shake as I desperately attempted to force myself not to in any way examine the meaning of them at all.

            “Tom…I…”  I started, but I was quickly silenced just as I heard Ethan’s footsteps coming from the opposite direction of where I now so shakily stood, and then the roar of Tom’s car’s engine coming from the expanse of the nearby parking lot.  Tom nodded as he smiled just slightly down toward me in some sort of silent understanding, and then he quickly removed his touch just before he carefully once again turned around.

            “Emma, darling.  Let’s get the fuck out of here, shall we?”  Tom asked with a smile as he released an incredibly heavy breath from between his thin lips, and then nodded toward his car that had just pulled up at the edge of the lot just before he then put his arm very lovingly around his sister.  Emma nodded as she smiled sweetly, but instead of looking up at her brother who had just been speaking to her, I noticed that she was now actually looking back toward me.  I faked a smile just as Ethan finally joined me at my side after he had finished with his phone call, and then I reminded myself that no matter how big of an asshole the man standing next to me truly was, he was still in fact my fiancé, and that I needed to treat him as such.  No amount of fancy words or intoxicating touches should be able to sway me from the promise that I had made to Ethan when we had decided to get married just about six months before.  _Unfortunately, I desperately feared that they very quickly were, no matter how hard against them I was fighting._

            The car ride from the restaurant through the outskirts of Cambridge was incredibly quiet, and also incredibly tense as I sat silently arguing with myself over the feelings that I knew better than anyone that I had absolutely no right to have.  Shortly after Tom had begun driving, Emma had announced that she wanted to be dropped off at Jonathan’s apartment before we headed to Heathrow as the two of them still planned on attending the concert on campus that she had mentioned when we had still been back at Tom’s home, and after her brother swiftly followed through with her wishes, I was left alone with just Ethan and Tom.  The two men talked casually about sports and of course Tom’s car that Ethan quite obviously seemed to admire, but the entire time that they conversed with one another, my literature professor stared back at me from his rearview mirror.  Tension grew quickly inside of me as I immediately began to fear the ride home from the airport once Ethan was safely on his way back to America, and I was quite ashamed of the fact that the slightest bit of excitement edged at my anxiety begging me to just finally stop in this useless fight and simply give in.  Deep inside I knew that I would not be able to ignore my feelings for Tom forever, but I also knew that carelessly giving in to them while I was engaged to another man was the very definition of the word _wrong_.  I couldn’t just ignore the voice of reason deep inside of my head that had been reminding me ever since I had first met him that absolutely nothing good could ever come from my going anywhere near Tom, and I couldn’t pretend that I was just a carefree girl that could do whatever it was that she wanted.  I was a twenty-four year old law student just about to graduate and become a practicing attorney in New York City of all god forsaken places, and shortly after that, I was due to get married to a man who my parents loved more than life itself.  I couldn’t just throw away what I had worked my whole life toward just so that I could indulge in my lust for a man that I honestly barely even knew, and I couldn’t betray Ethan no matter how much of a jerk that he sometimes might have been.  I had been raised a decent, and incredibly critically thinking type of woman who followed through on the promises that she made to those around her, and it was about time that I started to once again remember that fact.  This strange lust driven relationship between myself and my dangerously gorgeous literature professor just had to finally end, and as soon as Ethan was safely on his way back to the states, I planned on explaining my sudden epiphany directly to said gorgeous professor himself.  I just couldn’t continue acting as foolishly as I had been during especially the past two days of this seemingly endless weekend.  I had to finally pull myself back together, and remember who I was and where exactly it was that I had come from.  _I needed to remember my lifetime of being raised by my mother, who quite honestly, would have been deeply ashamed of my most recent behavior._

            “Here we are.  Ethan if you go in through these main front doors here, they will lead you almost directly toward all of the airline desks where you need to check-in.  Then you will take the escalator toward your right up to your gate, and then you should be on your way.”  Tom explained politely as he suddenly shifted his car into park, and then unexpectedly alerted me that we had already arrived at London’s main international airport.  Ethan nodded from beside me as he quickly opened his passenger side door, and then began to just as quickly step out of it.

            “Thanks, man.  I appreciate the lift.”  He said just as both of his feet finally hit the ground outside of Tom’s car, and then I in turn began to move across the freshly polished leather of the backseat just behind him.

            “I am just going to make sure that he gets through check-in alright.  If you don’t want to wait…”  I started quickly, but Tom’s head turned back toward me immediately silencing my question, and his eyes seemed to give me a very intense answer that I was quite certain that his words never could.

            “I will gladly wait, Miss Taylor.  Take your time.”  He said with a small smile as he quickly nodded his head, and then turned back toward his freshly buffed appearing dark colored dash.  I nodded slowly as I released a very heavy anxiety filled breath from between my lips, and then I followed Ethan just slightly quicker out of the back of the car.

            The inside of the Heathrow International Airport was rather quiet as it was to be expected since it was so late in the evening, and the smell of freshly brewed tea hung heavy in the air around me as I almost mindlessly continued to move behind my fiancé through the incredibly massive terminal.  I smiled as I quietly reveled in the familiar fragrance that so often filled the inside of nearly every single building in England that I had ever been inside of, and then I picked up in my slightly leisurely pace as I attempted to catch up to Ethan, who suddenly was far ahead of me in his journey toward his airline’s main check-in desk.  I waited silently as my fiancé eventually took care of his carryon baggage, and reporting for his flight that still had over ninety minutes before its official boarding, and then I followed him into the airport’s central waiting area, where I knew that we would then soon quickly part ways.

            “Well Luce, it was really good to see you while I was in town.  I will tell your mom that you are doing good, and that you aren’t slacking in your studies like she of course always assumes that you are.”  Ethan said as he turned back toward where I stood behind him quietly, and then smiled warmly with his briefcase held in one hand, and his cellphone held tightly in the other.  I nodded as I smiled back at my fiancé kindly in return, and then I began to fidget just slightly where I stood.  _These airport goodbyes were just always so awkward.  How come they were never like the ones that I saw in the movies?_

            “It was good to see you too, Ethan.  Good luck on the new case, and please tell my mom that I will call her as soon as my class work load starts to slow down.”  I said as I made sure to give Ethan an excuse to give to my mother for exactly as to why it was that I hadn’t exactly been calling much since I had first arrived in England, and also why I most likely wouldn’t be calling her anytime soon either.  Ethan nodded as he glanced down at his watch quickly, and then he smiled a slightly annoyed smile in my direction shortly thereafter.  _And, that folks means that we are out of time._

“Will do.  Well, I’d better get going so that I can get through security.  Good luck with all of your studies, Luce, especially with Professor Suave’s class out there.  Try not to let Emma distract you too much, and maybe go a little easier on the makeup from now on.”  He said with a small laugh as he nodded down toward me, and then wrapped one of his thick arms gently around the back of my shoulders.  I nodded as I took in his slight insult with unusual ease, and then felt my body strangely go stiff as he pulled me even closer toward him.  _This just felt so unnatural._

            “Thanks, and I will.  Have a safe flight, and call me when you get in.”  I said softly as Ethan finally pulled away, and then looked back down toward me with slightly softer appearing eyes.

            “I will.  Bye, Luce.”  He said, and then he leaned down slowly toward me and eventually he very carefully finally kissed me…this time on the lips.  _Of fucking course._

            Over the span of our relationship, I had found myself desperate for Ethan’s attention and affection more times than I could count and on more occasions than I could honestly remember.  So often over the years, I had prayed that he would show me the same sort of physical love that I had always so secretly craved from him, but on this particular night in the airport when I had finally gotten it, it actually repulsed me to truly receive.  My skin felt cold, my bones were painfully rigid, and all of my muscles seemed tight and completely uneasy beneath my flesh.  My stomach was in knots and my heart pounded in pure anxiety instead of the excitement that I had always expected, and I felt as if I was betraying someone else by allowing Ethan to even go near my lips.  I pulled back slowly just after I felt my throat beginning to tighten and my eyes very slowly filling up with tears, and in that moment, I realized for the first time that I honestly and truly had absolutely no desire whatsoever for the man standing before me at all.  His attitude offended me, his work ethic annoyed me, and his touch now ironically actually made me feel sick to my stomach to endure.  Ethan and I might have come from almost identical backgrounds and from families that were so much alike that it almost hurt to truly examine, but we had nothing more in common than a horse had with a fucking duck.  For the first time in my life, I realized that there was absolutely no way that I could honestly go through with the promise that I had made six months before when I had agreed to spend eternity with my only college boyfriend, and I didn’t care if it broke my parent’s hearts when they would now inevitably be forced to hear it.  The most recent embrace from my fiancé had nearly moved me to vomiting just from the incredibly off putting sensation of it, and the entire time that his mouth had been against mine, I had felt as if I had wronged a man that I honestly barely even knew.  For the first time since I had been in England I felt as if I had very wrongly cheated, and strangely enough, I felt as if I had cheated…on Tom.

            “Bye, Ethan.”  I stuttered out shakily, not truly knowing what else to say as I didn’t feel that explaining my newest revelation to my fiancé regarding our relationship in an airport of all places would be entirely appropriate or at all sensitive, and then I carefully took a step back toward the main terminal doors just a short distance away from where I stood.  I swallowed thickly as I then forced another fake smile onto my face as Ethan waved absentmindedly back toward me just before he then carefully turned around, and then I watched him make his way toward the escalator just before he then eventually disappeared completely from my view.

             I remained in the center of the massive airport terminal for a few more minutes as I attempted to somehow wrap my mind around the eye opening event that had just so recently happened, and then after a short time of allowing myself to become completely lost in my own thoughts, I finally turned myself completely back around.  Hesitantly, I focused my eyes in on the shiny midnight colored car that sat waiting for me in the airport’s formal loading zone, and then I released a heavy breath that I prayed would somehow clear my painfully chaotic mind.  In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to run to my literature professor and beg him to touch me after realizing that I wanted him far more than I could have even dreamed of wanting the man who I had promised to marry, but I knew that no matter how much I might have wanted to, that was something that I absolutely just could not do.  Regardless of my lack of love for my fiancé or my intense feelings for my best friend’s brother, I was still in fact very much engaged, and I was also still very much Tom’s student.  I needed to keep my head on my shoulders and do what was right like I had so often done when I had been back in America, and I needed to stop allowing my hormones to run the show as they had been doing ever since I had begun living in England.  I was a grown woman and I needed to start acting like one, instead of acting like a lovesick teenager in heat.  I really needed to just forget this silly crush on a man that in all reality I could never honestly have, and instead focus on my studies as I had intended to when I had originally first left the familiar confines of New York City.  _Priorities, Lucy.  Remember all those things that your mother so diligently attempted to teach you._

            My legs shook just slightly beneath me as I very carefully finally began making my way back to Tom’s shiny midnight colored car, and once I finally reached it, I slid into the passenger seat without saying a single word.  Tom turned his head toward me as I kept my gaze forcibly down toward my fingers that I quickly tangled together anxiously in my lap, and then he silently shifted his car into drive just before pulling out of his spot in front of the massive terminal.  For nearly twenty minutes, the two of us travelled down the fast paced interstate just outside of London without so much as breathing loud enough for the other to hear it, and as we did my mind raced with a million different completely conflicting and utterly confusing emotionally fueled thoughts.  My fingers ached as I longed to reach out to the man who sat so close beside me but still seemed almost painfully far away, and my body practically cried out with need to feel his hands against my skin as I had just briefly about an hour before.  The logical portion of my brain screamed at me as it reminded me that I was allowing my stupid physical desires to outshine the fact that I knew that this whole thing was just completely wrong, and it berated me for being the type of woman that my mother had always taught me should be avoided at all costs.  Memories from the incident at the dinner table just a short time before flooded into my head suddenly as I felt my core grow slick with need from between my thighs in an instant, and then images of Ethan just shortly later in the evening kissing me eventually swooped in, and pushed shame very quickly into my heart.  No matter how much I wanted Tom, I knew that what I had done the past two nights had been completely inexcusable, and I also knew that with how seductive little Natalie had talked to me just after she had found us out, what had happened most likely hadn’t been all that shocking to her at all.  I was most likely just another game that my best friend’s older brother was mindlessly playing due to his boredom with his straight laced job, and I had been an idiot not immediately knowing full well that it would eventually be me who would be the one that would inevitably lose.  The realization that I had most likely been played completely for a fool immediately washed over me as it seemed far easier to take than any of my alternative thoughts in that moment, and as it very thoroughly did, so did an intense feeling of anger that quickly settled deep inside of my bones. 

            “Are you quite alright over there, Miss Taylor?  If you clench your hands together any tighter, you are liable to begin breaking bones.”  Tom said with a small hint of laughter hanging from his words as he suddenly drew me out of my inner chastising, and then returned me back into the car that I so uncomfortably still sat in.

            “I’m fine.”  I said quickly with an angry tone in my voice that I had honestly not intended on allowing to slip out as I shifted my body slightly where it was that I sat, and then pushed a handful of my hair further away from my incredibly tensely held face.  I watched as Tom pursed his lips together slightly as he took in my most likely unexpected hasty response to him, and then he tilted his head very slowly in my direction.

            “You do not sound as if you are fine.  Are you sure that you wouldn’t care to talk about what it is that has you so obviously tense so late in the night?”  He asked as his eyes ran quickly over my tightly held form, and then drifted back out toward the road just before he then made a slight turn.  I sighed as I noticed the scant falling of raindrops beginning to come down from the now completely darkened night sky, and the faint sound of thunder beginning to rumble from somewhere off in the distance as well.  _Of fucking course._

“You can drop all the pretty words, Tom.  I told you that I am fine, and that means that I am fine.”  I said tightly as I watched Tom finally turn into the neighborhood in which he lived in, and then eventually flick on his windshield wipers just as the rain quickly began to pick up in its suddenly intense pace. 

            “Alright, no pretty words, then.  I will simply just ask you flat out one last time.  What is your fucking problem, _darling?_ ”  Tom asked incredibly sarcastically just as he finally began making his way down the darkened expanse of the street that his home was located on, and then eventually turned onto the smoothly paved surface of his driveway.  I twisted my hands together even tighter in my lap at his incredibly sardonic words, and then I released a very shaky breath from between my tightly clenched teeth. 

            “You know exactly what my problem is, Tom.  Please stop acting so fucking innocent.”  I said as my brain immediately warned me to be very cautious when going in the direction that I was so quickly headed, but I ignored my brain as my incredibly fragile emotions appeared to have something very important that they needed to say, and were apparently quite tired of having to wait in order to say it.

            “Actually, I don’t, Miss Taylor.  However, I would be honored if you would care to enlighten me.”  Tom said with even more sarcasm in his tone as he shifted his car into park slightly roughly at the top of his driveway, and then shortly thereafter switched off his engine.  I sighed as I threw my door open as my anger began to quickly turn into rage, and then I stepped out into what now appeared to be a fucking torrential downpour just before I purposely slammed my door as hard as I could behind me.  _Lucy, you need to stop.  You’re mad at yourself, not at him._

            My vision was blurry and my mind was racing as I began stomping as if I was some sort of a child toward Tom’s now completely rain water sheened front door, and further away from that of his stupid overly expensive and honestly quite unnecessarily beautiful midnight colored car.  My heart pounded roughly inside of my chest as memories of Ethan and my honestly always unhappy relationship flooded quickly into my mind for the second time of the evening, and then the memories of my moments alone with Tom also eventually rushed in, showing me a very different view of what it could truly be like to be with a man.  I tightened my hands at my sides as I attempted to force out my stupid thoughts regarding my literature professor who for more reasons than I could count had absolutely no right to be inside of my head in the first place, and then I felt my body come to a quick halt just as Tom’s strong grip suddenly tightened around the incredibly tensed flesh of my now incredibly dampened forearm.

            “Lucy!  What the fuck is wrong with you?”  Tom yelled loudly over the rain that was now coming down so hard around us that I could barely see a few inches in front of me as I quickly turned around, and then I yanked my arm roughly away from his strong grips before I gathered my words together in order to very harshly eventually answer him. 

            “What is wrong with me?  You want to know what is wrong with me, Tom?  What is wrong with me is that you had no right to do what you did tonight!  You had no right to…to touch me like you did when we were at the restaurant.  My fiancé was there, Tom!  My fucking fiancé was sitting right next to me while you were…groping me, and your sister was sitting just across the table!  I don’t know what it is that you usually do with the obviously high number of women that you have slept with in this town, but where I come from you don’t try to finger fuck them under a table in public!”  I screamed as I pushed a handful of my now completely rain soaked hair away from my face, and then blinked rapidly a few times in order to attempt to at least somewhat clear my suddenly incredibly clouded view.  Tom took a very quick step closer toward me as he wiped a handful of water away from his face as well, and then he opened his arms out wide in front of him just before he eventually also finally began to speak.

            “Where you come from, Lucy?  Where you come from, men apparently treat the women that they claim that they love as if they are dogs, and then expect them to just sit there and take it!  Your insufferable prick of a fiancé barely even acknowledged you all night, and when he did, it was to give you a backhanded compliment or to just outright disrespect you.  He stared at our waitress more than he looked at you, and he did not even offer you his fucking jacket when it was so obvious that you were freezing.  Your fiancé is an asshole who you have let treat you like absolute shit for long enough that it is like you don’t even realize that he is doing it anymore, but apparently you are completely fine with all of that.  What bothers you apparently, is that I touched you in public when it was so obvious that you wanted me to by the fact that you were clutching my fucking hand as if your life depended on it, and that you were so wet that I could practically taste you from where I sat.  I am fine with the fact that what I did was most likely incredibly inappropriate, but don’t stand here and act like you were at all offended by it.  Had Natalie not come back to the table you would have finished right there in front of God and everybody, and so help me, we both know that both of us would have enjoyed every single fucking minute of it.”  Tom yelled heatedly as he slid one of his large hands up into his hair and then forced a handful of water back down onto the ground beneath him, and away from his completely drenched (and quite angry) appearing face.  I swallowed thickly as I took in his incredibly frustrated sounding words, and then I stomped my foot down onto the pavement beneath my feet as I desperately attempted to remind myself that I really needed to stay as mad as humanly possible in this situation.  _My alternative emotions regarding Tom were far more dangerous than simple anger, and I just couldn’t handle that shit tonight._

            “I…god damn it, Tom!  We can’t fucking do this!  Ethan might be an asshole and I might not love him even a little bit, but that doesn’t change the fact that we still just simply cannot do this.  Emma is my best friend, and messing around with her brother is just…wrong.  Not to mention the fact that you are one of my fucking professors for crying out loud!  I don’t care what you say, tenure doesn’t save you from everything and no matter how quiet we keep it, with my luck I can guarantee you that someone will definitely find out.  On top of that, I am still engaged and you are still nine fucking years older than me.  There are a million reasons why we should not do this, and I seriously think that we need to finally logically acknowledge them.  We need to start acting like fucking adults.”  I reasoned as my yells seemed to quickly turn more into pleas as I stared back at the man standing before me who was now completely drenched from head to toe, and whose white dress shirt was suddenly clinging to his body in such a way that I could see almost every single outline of the lean hardened muscle that covered his stomach and chest.  _Sweet Jesus, the middle of a rainstorm was the wrong time to have this conversation._

            “I am very much acting like an adult, Lucy, and I also very well understand all of the risks that come with how I feel about you.  The difference between you and me, however, is that I could give a fuck about logic and I am willing to take a few risks because I honestly want you that much.  Ever since last night, the only thing that has been on my mind is you.  The way that you tasted when I kissed you, the way that you smelled when I drug my lips up the front of your throat, and the way that your voice sounded when you so fucking sweetly said my name.  Those are the only things that have been on my mind during this fucking day that has seemed painfully endless, and if you walk away from me tonight, those are the only things that are going to be on my mind until you tell your fucking brain to shut the hell up and finally decide to indulge in what it is that you actually want.  I am not just another college boy that fancies you and wants to fumble around with you in the dark until I am satisfied and you are left very sadly disappointed.  I am a man who very desperately wants you, Lucy, and I want nothing more than to overwhelmingly please you, until the only word that you can remember is my fucking name.”  Tom yelled over the rain as his chest began to heave quickly beneath the drenched material of his soaking wet shirt, and his body once again began moving closer toward mine.  I swallowed thickly as I took a much needed step backward, and then I released a very anxious sounding breath from between now trembling full lips.  _This is wrong…. Lucy, you need to remember that this is wrong._

            “We…we can’t.”  I whispered slightly brokenly as I felt my conviction seriously beginning to waver, and also my knees beginning to shake violently from just over my feet.  Tom took a final step closer toward me closing any gap that had still remained between us, and then he very carefully reached out and touched one of his large dampened hands to the side of my rain soaked face.  _Oh god, please don’t touch me.  I can’t think straight when you touch me._

            “Give me one honest reason why.”  He said in a voice so low that I could barely even recognize it coming from him, and so filled with hunger that it quite literally scared me to actually hear.  I swallowed thickly as I attempted to search my brain for any reasonable sounding answer that would possibly explain my obviously derailed train of thinking to the man standing before me, but I quickly found that most of my cognitive processing had strangely gone completely offline.

            “I…”  I started shakily as I continued desperately searching my brain, but before I could finish, Tom’s hand hooked around the back of my head and then brought my lips roughly against his for the first time since the night before.  I moaned breathlessly as my body practically jolted to life against his, and my lips immediately parted just as his tongue slid seductively into my desperately starved feeling mouth.  _God, he tasted so good.  How could someone taste this good?_

            “You what?”  Tom asked breathlessly as he suddenly pulled back away from my lips, but kept a tight hold on my hair that his long fingers were now completely tangled into.  I swallowed thickly as my eyes immediately dropped down to Tom’s lips that were dripping with rain water and had become slightly reddened from our kiss, and then I once again lifted my gaze up toward his.

            “I…can’t.  It’s…wrong.”  I whispered as I felt my chest beginning to heave with breath that was desperately attempting to escape me, and then just after my words had so shakily finally left my mouth, Tom crushed his lips against mine once again.  I groaned as this time I felt his teeth graze just lightly against my skin, and his tongue then very softly begin to massage against mine just before he then pulled away just as quickly as he had only moments before.  _This man really knew how to kiss._

            “Does that make you want me more, Miss Taylor?  The fact that you believe that this is so wrong?”  Tom asked and for the first time, the way that he addressed me sounded completely sexual, and utterly obscene in its nature rather than just simply formal in its intent.  I swallowed thickly as I felt goose bumps swiftly move over my skin and my nipples become painfully hard beneath my dress just as I finally dropped my eyes down to the wet flesh of Tom’s lips that I suddenly craved more than oxygen.  My heart pounded violently from deep inside of my chest as a familiar ache settled between my thighs that felt almost painful to endure, and then my blood began to rush swiftly through my veins as the sweet taste of Tom’s mouth lingered heavily on my tongue.  _I wanted him so badly.  I just couldn’t fight this anymore._  

            “Yes.”  I confessed on a slightly broken breath as I felt my lips beginning to slightly shake, and my mouth beginning to water as I stared up at the man before me who was looking down at me with dark stormy eyes that I so desperately wanted to tame.  Tom’s gaze stayed on me intently as if he was waiting for me to say something else, but as I finally felt lost for words in this incredibly confusing situation, I instead decided for once to make an actual move.  Without completely thinking it through or getting permission from the logical portion of my brain, I hungrily crushed my lips roughly against Tom’s as if the world around me was suddenly void of consequence, and I desperately tasted his kiss as he immediately pulled me tightly into his arms.  I gasped for air as I opened my mouth slightly further pushing my tongue roughly past the sharpness of his teeth, and then I groaned as I felt his hands beginning to hungrily explore my incredibly soaked form.

            “In…the…house.”  Tom breathed heavily against my lips as he finally broke away from my mouth, and then smoothed a few pieces of my dripping hair carefully away from my face.  I nodded hastily as I then quickly crushed my lips against his once again feeling completely desperate to taste his incredibly intoxicating flavor, and then I whimpered slightly as Tom very easily then lifted me up into his arms.  _I needed him…_

            My back hit the wet crimson colored front door of Tom’s house with a loud thud as I felt my literature professor’s body very roughly collide with mine, and the silver knob that would eventually allow us inside, begin to press painfully against the side of my hip.  Tom groaned as I dropped my mouth quickly from the thin expanse of his wet now also slightly trembling lips, and then I felt him swallow incredibly thickly as I began hungrily dragging my tongue over the sharp edge of his jaw, and then down to the side of his neck.  Incredibly thoroughly, I licked every drop of rain water that I could catch with the tip of my starved feeling tongue from his intoxicating flesh, and then I tangled my fingers into the wet waves of his copper colored hair as I quickly gained a firm grip.  I finally allowed my lips to settle just above the wet collar of Tom’s once crisp white dress shirt as I pulled gently against his scalp, and then I bit down hungrily just before I felt his muscles begin to tense deliciously beneath the slightly blunt edges of my teeth.

            “Fuck, we need to go in the house, Lucy.”  Tom moaned breathlessly as I began ripping at the buttons of his shirt that lay just over his collar bone, and once I had a few of them free, I began sucking gently against his delicious skin.  _God, he tasted so fucking good.  So good…_

            “Mmm…where are your keys?”  I asked in between the heated kisses that I had now even resorted to leaving over the top of Tom’s dampened shirt, and then I ripped a button just at the center of his chest completely off of the most likely quite expensive material with the sharpness of my teeth.

            “Right…pocket…fuck…”  Tom groaned as I felt one of his hands quickly make its way back into the wet tangled tresses of my hair, and then pull my head back away from his chest, just before he then crushed his lips roughly against mine.  _God, I loved the way that he kissed me._

            “Mmm….”  I groaned against Tom’s mouth as I slid my hand very slowly down the center of his strong incredibly wet body, and then instead of moving toward his pocket as I had originally intended, I suddenly _accidentally_ found my hand just over the damp material of his pants that so unfairly covered his absolutely impressive feeling erection.  The ache deep inside of my core immediately began to throb with desire as I felt my clit become so slick that it almost hurt, and then I slowly pulled away from Tom’s lips just before eventually meeting his eyes.  There was a silence in the night around us as I very hungrily began to rub my hand incredibly slowly over Tom’s cloth covered dick that I suddenly so desperately craved deep inside of me, and then the sound of my breathing becoming incredibly labored, eventually filled the chilly evening air.

            “You have no idea the things that I am going to do to you, Miss Taylor.”  Tom whispered against my lips as I felt one of his hands slip into the space between us, and then very slowly move up the trembling expanse of my inner thigh.  I whimpered as I tightened my legs around my literature professor’s waist in anticipation for the sensation that was soon to hopefully come to me, and then I felt my head hit the door behind me just as Tom’s hand very gently moved over the thin material of my now soaked silk panties.

            “Mmm….Tom.”  I moaned as my hips pushed up toward Tom’s hand almost automatically, and then pressed against his fingers that I prayed would soon move past the completely inconvenient fabric of my underwear.

            “My name has never sounded so good, my darling…”  Tom began as I felt two of his fingers finally slip beneath the silk material that covered my core, and then very slowly begin to rub small circles over my absolutely drenched feeling clit.  Tom’s eyes lowered down toward mine as he released a very ragged breath from between his lips, and then I heard his knee hit the door behind me, just as I began to quicken my seductive movements over his pants.

            “As when it leaves your lips.”  He practically moaned as I then felt him slide his middle finger very slowly down my incredibly slick painfully throbbing clit, and then push it very deeply inside of my dangerously wet core.  I felt all of my muscles contract as I bit down tightly on the wet swell of my bottom lip, and then I whimpered as I pushed my body even harder against Tom’s hand.

            “Oh god, Tom.”  I moaned as I quickly crushed my lips against Tom’s very roughly once again, and then cried out against his mouth as I felt his fingers very slowly beginning to move.  Tom groaned as he pushed my body harder against the door behind me, and then he pulled his lips away from my mouth just before he then dropped them to the incredibly sensitive skin just beneath my ear.

            “We really need to get you inside, darling.  I fear that you are getting far too wet standing out here in this horrible rain.”  He breathed against my ear as he pushed his finger slightly harder inside of me beginning to set a rhythm, and then bit down on the edge of my earlobe just before his thumb began rubbing gently over the soaked flesh of my clit.  I groaned as I began grinding my hips very slowly against him, and then began pulling my hand against his scalp slightly harder than I had been before.

            “Please don’t stop.”  I begged as my hips very quickly began rolling against the length of Tom’s fingers, and my bottom lip began to just slightly bleed from the wound that I had torn in it just a few moments before.

            “Mmm…you feel absolutely mouthwatering, darling.  So tight and so wet for me.”  Tom groaned as his movements became slightly deeper, and then I noticed his free hand move from my hair down toward his previously mentioned pocket.  I groaned as I rotated my hips just slightly, and then I ground down harder against my very badly behaving professor, causing him to nearly drop his keys immediately after retrieving them.

            “God, I want you.”  I moaned as I dropped my head down away from the door behind me once again, and then allowed my lips to land just at the center of Tom’s throat.  Tom groaned as I felt him attempting to unlock the door behind me just after he so unfairly removed his hand from between my shaking legs, and then he tightened his grip on me as I once again carefully bit down on his skin, just a few seconds before he finally successfully opened the door.

            Tom took a few very determined steps just after he had kicked his front door shut quickly behind him, but as I continued hungrily lapping up the water that ran down onto his collarbone and underneath his shirt, he eventually gave up and ceased completely in his once deliberate movements.  Before I even realized what it was that was happening, I felt my back come down hard against the polished wooden steps that lined the narrow staircase of my home away from home, and then I helplessly watched as Tom very predatorily moved up over my rain water soaked form.  My knees began to shake as Tom’s hands very slowly moved up over the incredibly thin dampened material that covered the front of my body, and then my breathing immediately began to increase as I felt his fingertips very carefully finally slide over the swells of my breasts.  My back arched up off the stairs beneath me as I felt Tom’s fingers eventually hook into the straps that had once curved perfectly over my shoulders, and then a soft moan escaped from my lips as he then roughly yanked the front of my dress completely down.  The cool evening air caressed my bare skin as I watched Tom lean down painfully slowly even closer toward my trembling body, and then heat immediately flooded through my system as I finally felt his lips seductively mold around one of my taut pebbled nipples.  Sensations of pure pleasure and undeniable need rushed over me as my body curved up toward Tom’s, aching for any release that he could possibly provide me, and soft moans escaped my lips as his teeth then very gently nicked against my skin.  My core was drenched and my legs were trembling as I felt Tom eventually move diligently over to my other breast, and then my skin began to deliciously tingle as I finally felt his hand very slowly begin to snake up underneath of my dress.

            “Mmm…your body is absolutely delicious, Miss Taylor.”  Tom whispered against my skin as his hand slid up and around the back of one of my thighs, and then I felt him very hungrily caress the supple flesh that covered my ass.  I groaned as the sensation surprisingly aroused me quite a bit, and then I licked my lips as I lifted one of my hands just before I then threaded my fingers deeply into Tom’s still dripping wet hair.

            “Please, touch me…”  I begged as I slowly felt both of Tom’s hands very slowly move up the slender expanse of my back, and then finally settle just at the zipper at the top of my dress.

            “Are you overly attached to this dress that you are wearing tonight, darling?”  Tom asked as he hooked his fingers just beneath the still incredibly dampened thin material in his hands, and then pulled it back slightly away from my skin.  I shook my head quickly simply wanting the dress off of me as fast as humanely possible, and then I licked my lips before I quickly gave him my reply.

            “No, I barely wear it.”  I whispered as Tom shifted himself just slightly forward on his knees in between my shaking legs, and then he tightened his grip on my garment once again.

            “Fantastic.”  He said slightly darkly just as I immediately felt my dress beginning to rip from behind me, and then shortly thereafter, found it laying in two separate pieces on the stair just next to my head.  Tom licked his lips as he looked down hungrily at my almost completely naked body that lay out so exposed before him, and then he very slowly lowered his mouth to the flesh that covered my stomach.  Tom groaned as he ran his tongue carefully over the dip above my navel just before then dragging his mouth to the curve of my side, and then he breathed out heavily as he intently began to trace the bone of my hip that curved down toward my pelvis.  I whimpered quietly as I couldn’t help but watch my literature professor so thoroughly taste my suddenly painfully overheated skin, and then I felt my legs once again begin to tremble just as Tom’s lips began to near the delicate flesh of my inner thigh.

            “Mmm…”  I moaned quietly as I watched Tom drag his tongue from the inside of my knee all the way up to the skin that my panties still so protectively covered, and then I bit down hard on my bottom lip as I noticed Tom then very slowly lift his eyes.  He kept his gaze intently in on mine as his fingers moved up over my center causing my core to become dangerously wet, and in turn also causing my legs to shake even more violently than they had been before.  Tom groaned as he ran his hand over me once again, obviously feeling the intense wetness that lay beneath the incredibly thin silk material, and then I heard myself gasp as I watched him then rip said material quickly from my form.

            “I have wanted to do this for a very long time, Lucy.  My suggestion to you would be, that you might want to find something in which to hold on to.”  Tom whispered as I watched his hand once again move over the now bare skin of my drenched core, and then his fingers begin to rub small circles just over my clit.  I groaned as I felt myself becoming painfully wet in the matter of only a second, and then I yelped slightly as I finally felt Tom’s tongue very gently hit my skin.

            My mind spun and my blood rushed through my veins so quickly that it was almost painful as I felt Tom very tortuously begin to taste me, and still also continue to caress me with his fingers as well.  My breathing immediately became labored as I dropped my head back onto the stair just beneath me, and tingling sensations of unexplainable pleasure began surging through my incredibly dampened core.  I whimpered quietly as the feeling of Tom’s tongue slowly became just slightly more intense against the slick flesh of my clit, and then I cried out loudly as I felt him very gently suck against my wet skin for the very first time.  The room around me began to swirl wildly out of control as the wetness of Tom’s mouth began to further moisten my suddenly completely oversensitive skin, and the skill of his tongue that tortured me, began to pull me closer to an edge that I felt that I honestly wasn’t prepared from which to fall.  Bright flashes of lights suddenly exploded from behind my eyes as I reached out one of my hands down toward Tom and desperately dug my nails into the delicious skin of his shoulder, and a tightness began to form deep within my center that immediately began forcefully pulling air from my intensely burning lungs.  I tightened all of my muscles instinctively as I begged Tom to end his delicious torture, and then I raked my fingernails roughly against the back of his shoulder blade, most likely drawing at least a small amount of blood.

            “Relax, Lucy.  Don’t fight it.  Let me make you cum, darling.”  Tom soothed breathlessly as he pulled away from my core momentarily, and then slowly began rubbing his thumb over my small bundle of sensitive nerves.  My body shuddered as I groaned loudly once again, and then I bit down on my lip as I tightened my grip against Tom’s skin.

            A few seconds later, I finally released (almost) all of the overly tensed muscles inside of me, and then I relaxed as much as possible down onto the incredibly uncomfortable wooden stairs beneath my form.  Tom groaned as he returned his mouth almost immediately to that of my center, and then as he very gently once again began skillfully licking, he very carefully once again slipped his middle finger inside of my core.  I groaned as the feeling of the pressure inside me mixed with the sensation of Tom’s tongue against my clit immediately began to overwhelm me, and as Tom finally began moving his hand rhythmically once more, I felt the pleasure that had been steadily rising inside of me forcefully begin to break free.  My nails dug deeply into Tom’s shoulder as a string of curse words that I had never ever said before quickly escaped from my lips, and then my hips bucked up wildly just as a strong wave of almost painful euphoria practically assaulted my soaking wet core.

            “Tom…fuck…please!”  I cried out as Tom very carefully began to slow in his movements, and then eventually began meticulously massaging his tongue against a slightly lower part of my clit.  I gasped as I felt a somewhat different sensation of pleasure suddenly move over me, and then another wave of intensely delicious satisfaction begin to flood over my violently trembling form.

            “Oh god…Tom!”  I screamed as I quickly slid my fingers from the muscles of Tom’s shoulder up into his hair, and then pulled roughly at his scalp as my orgasm relentlessly continued torturing me.

            “Mmm….Lucy.”  Tom groaned deeply in a tone of voice that I had never quite heard come from him before as I felt him pull his head slightly against my hand, and then lick over my drenched skin just one last time before he finally removed his finger from inside of me, and then carefully rolled back onto his knees.  I panted in pure desperation as I watched my literature professor very seductively lick the taste of me from his lips, and then I pushed myself up slightly, just before quickly crushing my mouth against his.

            The taste of my own sweet release flooded over my senses as I hungrily drank Tom in, and then the feeling of absolute need completely took me over, as I felt my hands quickly move to the center of his chest.  Without thinking, I swiftly ripped open the front of his still soaking wet white dress shirt, and then I pushed it back over his shoulders as my lips almost instinctively found his skin.  I licked hungrily over Tom’s blissfully heated flesh as I noticed him quickly shrug his shirt down over his long arms, and then I slid my hand down over the thick bulge of pure desire that lay just beneath his rain soaked pants.  Tom groaned as I rubbed my fingers over his erection as seductively as I possibly could manage, and then he finally slipped his fingers under my chin just before he then jerked my eyes back up toward his.

            “I want you upstairs.  Now.”  He said forcefully as he began pulling me closer toward his body, but I immediately fought back, as I had absolutely no intention to actually move.  _I just couldn’t wait any longer._

            “I want you here.  Now.”  I replied sternly and yet somehow still desperately as I slid my hand up to the waistband of Tom’s pants, and then began unfastening the button as quickly as I possibly could.  Tom released a ragged breath just as I finally got his zipper pulled down, and then he groaned slightly as I forced his pants over the sides of his hips.  I licked my lips as I felt my fingers finally begin to start shaking in what was either intense hunger or complete fear, and then I slowly pushed my hand over the thin material of his boxer shorts.  I gathered my courage as quickly as I could possibly manage as I hooked my fingers just over the top of Tom’s underwear, and then I very slowly peeled the material away from his skin.  My breath hitched inside of my throat the second that I finally took in the vision of the man knelt before me who was actually completely bared to me for the first time, and then I swallowed as thickly as I possibly could.  _Sweet Jesus…_

            “Now.”  I repeated shakily in a voice that I had never heard myself ever use before as I reached out and wrapped my fingers tightly around the incredible expanse of Tom’s impressive dick, and then I lifted my eyes as I heard him very quietly groan from deep inside of his chest.  _He felt so good…_

            “You want me bad enough that you can’t wait long enough for us to get up a few stairs, Miss Taylor?”  Tom asked in a very low slightly strained tone as he intently watched me lean slightly closer toward his body, and then he groaned much louder than before as I very carefully leaned down, and finally ran my tongue incredibly slowly over the underside of his dick. 

            “Mmm….fuck, Lucy.”  Tom groaned before I could even answer his question as his fingers immediately tangled into the waves of my hair, and then tightened against my scalp just as I very hungrily tasted him once more.  _God, and he tasted good too…_

            “No, Tom.  I can’t wait.”  I said in between licks as I carefully opened my mouth slightly wider, and then hungrily finally took Tom completely into my mouth.  I groaned as the delicious taste of him rushed over every single one of my completely over stimulated senses, and then I yelped as I felt Tom very roughly jerk back my head.

            “Lay back.”  He said slightly breathlessly just as my eyes finally lifted up toward his, and then I quickly took in the completely intoxicating vision of hunger, that suddenly radiated intensely from his stare.

            “But, I wasn’t…”  I started as I pulled just slightly against Tom’s grip in order to move closer toward the part of him that I quite literally suddenly felt starved for, but was quickly halted as he pulled against my hair hard once again.

            “I said, lay back.  Be a good girl, Lucy.  Listen to your teacher.”  Tom said seductively as he stared down at me intensely, and the complete vulgarity of his words caused my clit to become so slick that I myself was tempted to touch it in order to give myself some sort of much needed release.  I swallowed thickly as I finally nodded my head in understanding, and then I obediently laid back against the stairs, and I did exactly what my teacher had said.

            My body shook and my heart raced as Tom very slowly covered my overheated form, and the second that he finally molded his body against my flesh what felt like almost perfectly, any logical thought that I had ever had regarding our relationship immediately floated quickly away.  Tom’s lips met mine the second that nearly every inch of his skin was so closely touching mine, and then he bit down on the swell of my bottom lip as he pulled one of my legs around his hips.  I groaned as I felt the tip of Tom’s painfully hard dick beginning to press roughly against my slick entrance, and then I licked my lips as he gently rubbed himself repeatedly against me over and over again.  Within seconds my clit was swollen and drenched with a desire that I could barely any longer sanely take, and then just a few moments after that, my body was deliciously finally appeased, as Tom pushed himself very slowly deep inside of me.

            “Fuck…”  I gasped breathlessly as I felt Tom sheath himself deep inside of me, and then pull back carefully as he once again hungrily tasted my mouth.  _Fuck, he felt good._

            The next few moments were a very intense combination of a whirlwind of pure pleasure and a tornado of complete overwhelming awe.  Tom moved inside of me deeply, but painfully slowly as I wrapped my body tightly around his and begged him more, and he fed at my mouth hungrily as if he was a man who had been somehow surviving while yet completely starved.  My heart throbbed from deep inside of my chest as Tom’s movements eventually began to quicken, and my cries became much louder as his thrusts grew even deeper than they had been before.  Sweat streamed down my body and mixed with that of Tom’s as he relentlessly continued to move inside of me, and sensations of overwhelming pleasure began building in the center of my core more intensely with every single seductive move that he made.  Slowly, Tom eventually moved back away from my now most likely kiss swollen lips as he dropped his eyes down toward me, and then he breathed heavily against my skin as he listened to me desperately call his name.

            “Please…don’t stop…Tom…please.”  I begged in a weak sounding voice that I honestly could not even recognize as I rolled my hips desperately up toward his, and then I took him even deeper than I had been before.  Tom groaned as he shifted into me slightly harder, and then he slid one of his hands caressingly down the outside of one of my thighs.

            “Mmm….you feel so fucking good, Lucy.  So wet…so tight…so fucking good.”  He moaned as he pulled my leg somewhat higher up against his side, and then he pushed slightly harder into me once again.  I groaned as I shifted my hips up even higher than I had before, and then I whimpered as I felt Tom briefly hit a spot inside of me that felt so good that it almost hurt to endure.

            “Mmm….you’re so deep.  God, more.  I need more.”  I begged as I arched my neck back slightly against the stairs, and then curved my back up carefully changing the angle of my hips.  Tom groaned at the sudden change in my position, and then he slid one of his arms carefully beneath the small of my back.  He licked his lips as he pulled me even closer to him, and then he lifted his intoxicatingly hungry gaze back up toward mine.

            “You want more, Lucy?  You want me to make you cum again right here on the stairs?”  Tom asked seductively as his words practically dripped from his lips like honey down onto my skin, and then he pushed deep inside of me slightly harder once again.  I groaned as I felt him hit the spot that made me see stars just briefly yet again, and then I frantically nodded my head.

            “God, yes.  More.  Please…”  I begged as I lifted my hips once again, but this time I felt them go up much easier than before as Tom swiftly lifted one of my legs up onto his shoulder, and then shifted my body just slightly closer toward his.  He pushed himself up carefully onto his knees as he looked down hungrily toward me, and then he kissed the side of my leg briefly just before he finally began to speak.

            “Hold on, darling.”  Tom warned breathlessly, and then just after his words finally left his lips, he angled his hips slightly differently, and then forcefully pushed himself deep inside of me.  The room suddenly disappeared from around me, and all possible coherent thinking immediately stopped.

            A rush of pure almost intolerable pleasure immediately bubbled up from deep inside of me as Tom roughly thrust deep inside of my core, and suddenly caused my body to feel as if it would shut down completely if it did not soon find some sort of relief.  My mind blanked and my words began to make absolutely no sense as they so shakily left my lips, and the vision of Tom moving above me soon became the only image that I could clearly see.  The beauty of the man moving above me took my breath away as I watched him thrust inside of me covered in a sheen of delicious sweat as he appeared a complete slave to his own desires, and the look of utter abandon that inhabited his entrancing ocean colored eyes was far too alluring to even attempt to ignore.  My body shook and shuddered as Tom once again increased in his delicious pace, and as he finally lowered the top half of his body down onto mine, I felt my orgasm beginning to beg for its release.

            “Tom…”  I whimpered helplessly as I tangled my fingers deep into the back of his hair as I pulled his face even closer toward mine, and then I bit down gently on the slight swell of his bottom lip.  Tom groaned as he pushed my leg that was still pressed against his shoulder back further toward my head, and then he thrust himself inside of me as deep as he could possibly go.  _The floor dropped out from under me, and the world disappeared._

            “Fuck…Oh god…”  I moaned as I blinked quickly attempting to clear my incredibly blurry view, and then I finally closed my eyes allowing the rush of deep pulsating sensations to completely ravage my trembling form.

            “Look at me, Lucy.  Fuck you feel so good.  Please, look at me.”  Tom groaned as I heard his breath slightly break, and then one of his hands gently smooth back a few pieces of my hair.  I swallowed thickly as I once again opened my emerald colored eyes, and then I focused in on the man staring almost frighteningly intensely down at me.

            The next few moments, however long they truly lasted, were incredibly intense and most likely a portion of time in my life, that I will honestly never be able to forget.  As I lay pressed down tightly against the incredibly uncomfortable surface of the freshly polished wooden stairs that led to the second floor just beneath Tom, I stared desperately into his eyes, and did not look away no matter how hard my body attempted to stop me from doing so.  I slid my hands down from the tangles of his wavy hair and to the tightly muscled expanse of his upper back, and I dug my nails deep into his flesh as he hungrily pushed deep inside of my core.  I breathed heavy against Tom’s lips as he carefully appeared to watch every single move that I made, and I purposely tightened my muscles around him, as I felt him deliciously twitch inside of me every single time that I did.  I moaned and cried out as I allowed the incredibly pleasurable tightening inside of my lower stomach begin to spin out of control without even attempting to try and stop it, and I ran my tongue over Tom’s completely addictive skin every time that I had the chance.  Finally, after what seemed like an endless lifetime of experiencing the delicious torture of Tom’s thrusts as he continued to push himself deeply inside of me, I eventually felt the tightness deep inside of me begin to give way.  Within seconds, a wave of sensation that I had not been prepared for began to move over me, and suddenly the only reprieve that I had was to simply attempt to somehow hang on.

            “Tom…oh god…Tom…”  I cried out as my neck instinctively arched back and my hips lifted up from the stairs beneath me in attempt to take him even deeper, and then a painfully satisfying series of intense contractions began pulsating from deep inside of my core.  I screamed out again, but this time my cry was silent, and as my core became drenched in my own sweet lustful juices, I felt Tom begin to reach his end as well.

            “Lucy, fuck!”  He growled out as a long string of incredibly graphic curse words then very quietly escaped from his lips, and his hips began slamming against mine even harder than before.  My orgasm intensified to a level that I had thought to be impossible as Tom’s movements became so incredibly intense against me that my eyes were finally forced to fall closed, and I felt my nails begin to pull blood from the skin of his back as I continued to attempt to hold on.

            “Jesus…”  I whimpered in a high pitched moan as my head fell back against the stair beneath me, and then waves of incredibly sinful feeling satisfaction began rushing through my every vein just before then slamming back down into my completely drenched center. 

            “Fuck…mmm…fuck.”  Tom groaned as his hand slammed down roughly onto the wood just beside my head, and then I felt his seed fill me completely as he hungrily continued to grind against my core.  I released an incredibly labored breath as I felt sweat beginning to slide down over the skin of my cheek just as Tom finally began to slow in his movements, and then I felt the muscles of my stomach eventually beginning to somewhat finally relax.  The air around me seemed painfully hot as I attempted to catch my breath as I lay helplessly beneath the man who had just so thoroughly exhausted me, and the back of my thigh cramped slightly as it still lay tensed against Tom’s shoulder.

            I wasn’t sure how much time had exactly passed, but by the time that the both of us finally had gotten our breathing at least somewhat under control, Tom eventually lifted his head and once again met my eyes.  He stared down with intense hunger still surprisingly radiating from his stare, and incredibly erratic breaths still falling from his lips.  I swallowed thickly as I reached up and gently traced my fingertips over the jawline of the man who continued staring at me in an incredibly intense sort of fashion, and then I smiled softly as I watched him very gently kiss the side of my hand.  Tom smiled in return as he finally carefully released my leg that had been pressed up tightly against him, and then he once again moved a few pieces of my hair away from my sweat soaked face.

            “Are you still quite upset with me, Miss Taylor?”  Tom asked in a slightly hoarse tone of voice as his smile grew somewhat wider above me, and then his eyes slightly softened from their earlier lust consumed stare.  I smiled wider as well as I slowly shook my head in his direction, and then I cleared my throat just before I attempted to finally speak.

            “No, Tom.  I am definitely not still upset with you.”  I answered as I carefully ran my tongue over my bottom lip, and then attempted to swallow against the intense dryness that now seemed to painfully consume the expanse of my throat.  Tom nodded as he released a breath from above me, and then he also licked his lips slowly as well.

            “Anything that I could do to possibly insight some of that earlier expressed anger, darling?  I don’t mean to sound crude, but you are quite delicious when you are so intensely frustrated with me.”  He said with a small laugh as he pushed himself up just carefully onto his elbows, and then he eventually lifted his weight slightly away from my form.  My body immediately chilled as his skin moved sadly away from mine, and then before I knew it, I was sitting up as well.

            “Well, leaving me naked on the stairs is a good way to get that frustration started.”  I said slightly sarcastically as Tom rolled up onto his knees in front of me, and then smiled as he allowed his eyes to move carefully over my still very nude form.

            “I would never leave you anywhere, darling, especially not when you are so beautifully bare.  I simply thought that we could finally move this up into my bedroom.  My bed is much more comfortable than these stairs.”  He said with a smile as he reached out and gently grabbed one of my hands, and then laced his slightly sweat sheened fingers carefully in between mine.  I smiled as I licked my lips slowly once again, and then I allowed Tom to pull me up with him onto my feet at his side.  _God, I loved how his hand felt wrapped around mine._

            “So you expect to keep me busy all night then, Professor?”  I asked slightly seductively as I felt my body beginning to once again desperately crave the man who stood so beautifully naked before me, and immediately hunger for the kind of pleasure that he had so recently given me.  Tom smiled as he moved slightly closer toward my face, and then he allowed his mouth to linger just lightly above my lips.

            “I expect to keep you busier for far longer than that, Miss Taylor.  I fear that you just might never sleep soundly ever again, my darling.”  He said as he allowed his lips to very briefly move across mine, and then he quickly once again pulled away with a bright smile still gracing his lips, immediately thereafter.  I swallowed thickly inside of my throat as I stared back at the man standing before me, and the intense hunger inside of me that suddenly burned so passionately for him, once again began to flame wildly out of control.  I tightened my grip on Tom’s hand as I felt him beginning to gently pull me in the direction of the upstairs hallway, and as I instinctively followed him, I realized that I was very quickly getting in far over my head with the man who so carefully led me.  Never before in my life had I ever so desperately begged a man to touch me as I had just a short time before when I had laid beneath Tom on the stairs, and never before had I ever felt so willing to do anything necessary in order to keep someone’s touch against my skin.  It wasn’t necessarily the fact that I had begged my literature professor so hungrily that suddenly quite thoroughly terrified me, it was what else I might be willing to do, in order to get him to so deliciously torture me again.


	10. Chapter 10

_“Suffer love! A good epithet! I do suffer love indeed, for I love thee against my will.”_   
_― William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing_

* * *

 

 

 

           The blissfully hot water that poured out from the shower spigot just above my head rushed soothingly over my exhausted skin, and immediately calmed my desperately aching flesh.  I released a heavy breath from between my full slightly kiss swollen lips as I eventually closed my tired eyes, dipping my head slightly further under the heated spray, and then I quietly groaned from low inside of my throat just as broken images from the night before swiftly began rushing over my barely still functioning system.  Tom hands running over the entirety of my naked body while I lay desperately begging beneath his touch, the taste of his mouth as he hungrily kissed my lips, and the smell of his skin so close to mine that it felt as if there was no clear line between where my body ended and where his so beautifully began.  My heart immediately began moving slightly quicker inside of my chest as the painfully euphoric sensations of my literature professor’s seductive caress began almost relentlessly assaulting my psyche, and then my pulse jumped up immediately inside of my veins as I unexpectedly heard the bathroom door just across the room from me very quietly begin to open.  I swallowed thickly deep inside of my throat as I felt fear wash over me for the first time since the night before, and my nerves immediately go on high alert just beneath my now thoroughly dampened skin.  _Oh sweet Jesus, please don’t let it be Emma._

          “Um...hello?”  I squeaked out softly just as I heard the frosted shower door beside me very slowly open, and then the gloriously naked body of my literature professor, very carefully step inside.  I felt my skin begin to deliciously tingle as I allowed my eyes to very carefully travel over the tight delicious flesh of the man who I had not seen wear a stich of clothing since the evening before, and then I bit down gently on my bottom lip just as I quickly shifted my emerald colored eyes back in front of me.  _My mother had always taught me that it wasn’t polite to stare, but with a body like that, it was honestly nearly impossible not to._

          “Good morning, Miss Taylor.”  Tom’s slightly gravely early morning voice said just as he stepped somewhat closer behind me, and then reached up and adjusted the showerhead above our heads just slightly higher, so that the water flowed more evenly between us.  I swallowed thickly once again as I felt heat immediately move over my skin at Tom’s sudden nearness, and then I almost instinctively leaned my body back against his.  _He felt so good…_

          “Good morning.  Don’t you think that it is a little bit strange that you are still addressing me so formally after last night?  Should I still be referring to you as my professor or do you think that it would be alright for me to just call you Tom?”  I asked in a playfully sarcastic tone with a small smile on my lips just as I felt one of Tom’s hands very slowly slide up the wet expanse of my back, and then very gently brush my dampened hair just off of the side of my shoulder.  I trembled immediately at his touch, and I felt my body cry out for more the second that he had finally finished.  _How could I already want him again this badly?_

          “You may call me whatever you’d like, Lucy.  Just call for me very _very_ loudly.”  Tom whispered from what sounded like deep inside of his throat as I felt his fingers finally slip up over my shoulder to the side of my neck, and then turn my face very carefully back toward his.  My heart throbbed from deep inside of my chest as I finally met the bright ocean colored eyes of the man who had tortured me so deliciously up until just barely two hours before, and then I felt my heart nearly explode, just as his mouth quickly captured mine in an incredibly hungry tasting kiss.  _The taste of his mouth was absolutely addictive._

          My legs shook as my breaths began escaping me in ragged pants, and my clit became so incredibly sensitive from in between my slicken thighs, that my core ached just from withstanding the intense pressure of it.  I moaned against Tom’s mouth as I slid my hand slowly up the side of his neck and tangled my fingers deeply into his hair, and then I pulled his lips even harder against mine in what felt like completely lust driven desperation.  Tom groaned as he deepened our kiss even further by pushing his tongue hungrily past my teeth, and then he slid his free arm slowly around my waist, pulling me tightly against his delicious feeling naked form.

          “Have you come to your senses yet and decided that you made a mistake with me last night, Lucy?”  Tom asked as he breathed heavily against my lips, and held my chin tightly in place, forcing me to look at him as he stared down at me with his very intense ocean colored eyes.  I swallowed thickly as I couldn’t help but drop my gaze back down to the slightly reddened flesh of Tom’s mouth, and then I very quickly shook my head.

          “No, I think that you quite thoroughly rid me of my senses last night…and then again this morning.”  I answered breathlessly as I ran my tongue slowly over the dampened expanse of my bottom lip, and then leaned slightly forward and allowed my mouth to just lightly brush against the slight stubble on Tom’s chin.  My mouth watered immediately at the slightly rough sensation, and then my mind immediately allowed a very intimate vision of my lips touching Tom’s skin to drift in from the evening before _.  God, something had to be wrong with me.  I shouldn’t want him again like this so quickly._

          “Did I now?”  Tom asked in a voice even lower than he had used before as he slid his hand that had previously been at my waist just slightly higher, and then eventually began very gently toying with one of my breasts.  I groaned as I bit down gently on my bottom lip once again, and then finally felt my eyes flutter closed just as I felt Tom’s mouth very hungrily begin tasting the dampened flesh that covered my shoulder.

          “Yes, I think that you did.  Mmm…god that feels good.”  I groaned as I leaned my head back against Tom’s shoulder just as his thumb began very gently massaging over my already tightly pebbled nipple, and his tongue began licking the water droplets off of my skin.

          “And, so you no longer care that what we are doing is wrong then, Lucy?”  Tom asked with a completely lust consumed voice against the side of my neck as he finally allowed his teeth to just gently scrape against my skin, and then his tongue to trace over his trail just shortly thereafter. _I visibly shivered as my blood practically lit on fire from inside of my veins._

          “People do things that are wrong every day.”  I whispered as I bit down harder on my bottom lip, and then cinched my thighs slightly tighter together, immediately feeling the delicious pressure of my arousal building between them.  Tom groaned in my ear as he carefully began pinching my nipple that he was torturing between his index finger and his thumb, and then he ran his teeth almost painfully gently over the side of my ear.

          “Yes they do, darling.  I presume that you no longer care that others could find out, either?”  He asked as he finally dropped his hand down away from my neck, and then very slowly began lowering it carefully toward my center.  I swallowed thickly just as Tom’s fingertips moved past my navel, and then I sharply took in a breath as he continued moving down closer toward my now painfully slick clit.

          “We will be careful.  No one will find out if we are careful.”  I reasoned knowing even in my slightly desire consumed state that I was quite honestly lying, and then I whimpered slightly just as two of Tom’s fingers finally found my already aching clit.  Tom groaned immediately as his skin moved over my intense wetness, and then he bit down slightly harder on the now completely oversensitive flesh of my ear.

          “That sounds like perfect logic to me, my dear.  Now, what about the fact that I am still very much your professor?”  He asked seductively as his tongue darted out and very carefully licked the edge of my earlobe just as I felt my clit become even slicker than it had been before.  I swallowed thickly as I felt the rumble of slightly dark laughter suddenly vibrating from the inside of Tom’s chest, and then the sensation of his lips pressing even harder against my ear.

          “Oh, did I hit a deliciously sensitive little nerve there, darling?  Does it turn you on that you have been a very bad girl with your professor?”  Tom nearly growled as I felt one of his fingers very slowly begin to circle over my incredibly sensitive bundle of nerves at the top of my clit, and then his other finger very slowly begin to tap my clit itself gently.  _I was going to explode…I was going to fucking explode…_

          “Tom…”  I moaned as I felt my legs becoming weak beneath me, and sensations of both fire and ice beginning to surge up from deep inside of my core.  Tom opened his mouth as he very hungrily began sucking and licking at my now incredibly overheated skin, and then he began dragging his teeth over my flesh as well.

          “Mmm…what do you think that everyone would think if they knew that last night I fucked you until you came seven different times beneath me?”  He asked as I felt him very purposefully shift his hips, and then press his still incredibly impressive erection against the small of my back.  I groaned as I felt myself slowly stumble forward, and finally eventually brace myself with my hand against the damp shower wall.  _That number couldn’t have been right.  He must have been exaggerating… Oh shit, he wasn’t exaggerating._

          “Tom, please…”  I begged as I felt Tom’s fingers begin to move slightly faster over my now completely drenched flesh, and his kisses against my skin become somewhat more urgent as well.

          “Or how about that I licked your delicious little pussy so well that you came hard enough that I had to suck the sweet taste of you off of your quite violently trembling thighs.  What do you think that they would think about that, Lucy?”  Tom questioned once again as his fingers moved even faster, and then his dick began to push even harder against my back.  _Jesus, Mary, and Joseph…_

          “Tom…  Please, fuck me.”  I begged breathlessly as I slowly reached one of my hands back in between our bodies, and then eventually wrapped my fingers very tightly around the throbbing expanse of my literature professor’s hard length just before very slowly beginning to move my hand over him.  _God he felt so good.  I needed him…_

          “Mmm…how bad do you want me inside of you right now, Lucy?”  Tom asked as he pressed my body slightly harder against the shower wall in front of me, and then very carefully nudged my legs apart with one of his knees.  I whimpered as I spread my legs quickly, and then I allowed his knee to very gently guide one of my legs up the wall that stood before me.

          “I want you so bad.  Please…”  I begged feeling desperate for the touch of the man standing behind me, and all of the delicious torture that I now knew very well that he could bring me.  Tom groaned as I felt him begin to rub the head of his dick very slowly over my clit, and then hook his fingers just behind my knee, holding me tightly against the wall in my place.

          “Mmm…you are such a bad _bad_ girl, Miss Taylor.”  He whispered against my shoulder as I felt him pushing roughly against my entrance, and then suddenly just as I should have expected, our little shower fantasy immediately ended.

          “Lucy?  Lucy, are you in there, love?”  I heard Emma’s voice suddenly call from the other side of the bathroom door just as both Tom and I immediately froze, and my heart nearly stopped quite abruptly from inside of my chest.  Holy fucking shit!  _What the hell was I supposed to say to her?_

          “Um…yeah…”  I stuttered out very ungracefully as I felt Tom drop his head down onto my shoulder, and then begin cursing his sister from just beneath his breath.  I bit down on my lip as I desperately fought a smile, but also felt fear completely consuming me over the idea of so quickly already being caught.

          “Oh okay, well I just wanted to let you know that I was home.  Hey, have you seen my brother anywhere?  I can’t find him, but his car is still here.”  Emma called as I could tell that she was now leaning against the side of the door, and her question made me suddenly turn my head back toward Tom praying that he would have a very believable answer to his sister’s question, that I just honestly did not.  Tom released a heavy breath from between his thin lips as he distanced his lower body just slightly from mine causing me actual physical pain, and then he licked his lips carefully just before he finally very softly spoke.

          “Tell her that I went for a run.”  He whispered against my ear as he nodded in what appeared to be completely idiotic self-assurance, and then very gently kissed my skin once again.  My flesh tingled as I attempted to block the feeling of Tom touching me quickly from my mind, and then I once again directed my attention back toward the door that was so frighteningly close beside us.

          “Um…I think that he might have went for a run or something.”  I called out toward my friend in an incredibly shaky voice just as Tom once again very hungrily began tasting my skin, and immediately caused my head to spin wildly just in reaction to it.  _Now really was not the time for this, Tom._

          “Oh, alright.  Well, come downstairs when you are finished, I have so much to tell you.  Jonathan was an absolute animal last night.”  Emma said excitedly causing Tom to groan disgustedly against my skin, but then apparently very quickly push his upset out of his mind, as his teeth began moving over my flesh quickly once again.  _God, I wanted him._

          “We should probably stop now.”  I said quietly with a small laugh just as Tom turned me swiftly around by my shoulders, and then pushed me roughly up against the shower wall behind me, causing me to just slightly gasp.

          “What did you say, love?”  Emma asked from the other side of the door just as Tom began sucking on the side of my neck quite desperately, and also running his hands over the front of my body as if he was memorizing my form completely. 

          “I just…um…I said…”  I stuttered as Tom’s teeth bit down roughly on the center of my throat, causing my knees to go weak, and my clit to begin to throb painfully from deep in between my trembling legs.  Tom groaned as he ran his tongue slowly over his fresh bite mark that I hoped would quickly fade, and then he slid his fingers very deliberately back down toward my center.

          “Lucy, are you alright?”  Emma called through the door sounding actually slightly concerned just as Tom slid me up the wall just slightly higher, and then unexpectedly drove two of his fingers deep inside of my core that was now quite literally dripping wet.  I whimpered slightly loudly as I bit down roughly on my bottom lip, and then finally I lifted my eyes back up toward Tom’s.  _His stare was on fire…_

          “You should probably answer her, darling.”  Tom responded quietly as he thrust his fingers deeply back inside of me, and then pressed his lower body tightly against mine, immediately revealing to me his even more impressive than usual erection.  Suddenly, Tom’s incredibly overly enthusiastic behavior began to make sense to me, and even in my lust consumed state, I suddenly realized exactly what it was that was going on.  _The thought of him being my literature professor made me hot.  The thought of us getting caught made him hot.  That combination wasn’t dangerous at all…right?_

“I’m fine, Emma.  I’m just really…tired.  I’ll be out in a few…minutes.  I’ll meet you…fuck…downstairs.”  I replied with my last few words coming out as dangerously close to moans just as I felt Tom drive into me even harder, and subsequently cause me to moan against his neck once again.

          “Okay, I’ll be downstairs.  Enjoy your shower.”  Emma answered happily but with the slightest amount of confusion in her voice just as I finally heard her move back away from the door, and then begin to make her way back down the narrow expanse of the hallway.  I groaned as I slightly roughly finally pushed my body down against Tom’s hand, and then lifted my emerald eyes back up toward his.

          “Please, fuck me.”  I begged as I stared into Tom’s ocean colored eyes, and then ground my core even harder against his hand.  Tom licked his lips as I heard him moan just slightly, and then he very carefully leaned somewhat closer toward my ear, just as his motions began to unfortunately slow.

          “If I fuck you now, darling, you will most likely spend the rest of the day in a very satiated daze and then however will you get your homework done?”  He asked as I felt his fingers curl just slightly inside of me, and then begin to very gently massage against my G-Spot that until the night before, I had previously believed was a complete myth.  I immediately saw stars behind my eyes as my clit became dangerously wet, and then the muscles inside of my core began to contract merely in delicious anticipation of what I prayed was soon to come.

          “What?”  I asked breathlessly as I felt my juices beginning to run down over Tom’s fingers, and immediately mingle with that of the shower water still pouring over our bodies.  Tom groaned just as his eyes very briefly fluttered closed.  _I couldn’t lie, the fact that he really seemed to get turned on just by the fact that I was turned on…well that really turned me on._

          “I would hate for the blinding orgasm that I plan on giving you more than once before the day’s end to keep you from your studies, darling.  So, instead I will take you to the very brink of absolute ecstasy, and then I will stop just seconds before you cum.  For the rest of the day, you will get wet just from the thought of me or the sight of me, and then tonight you will come to my room and I will do things to you that you cannot even begin to imagine.  That is, of course, if all of your homework is done.”  Tom said seductively as he pushed his fingers even deeper inside of me hitting a spot so sweet that it made my toes almost go numb, and my fingernails immediately dig into the flesh of his hips where my hands had previously quite innocently been resting. 

          “Excuse me?”  I asked trying my best to sound angry, and also trying to hopefully turn Tom’s attention away from my dripping wet core that was quite honestly very desperately begging for him.  Tom smiled as he leaned closer toward my face, and then he very gently kissed my slightly shaking lips.

          “If it makes you wet thinking about the fact that I am your professor, Lucy, well then I can make you fucking drenched.  I’ll play school with you all day, darling.  And then, you can play detention with me all night.”  He practically purred against my skin as he finally thrust so deliciously deep inside of me that I felt my slick walls immediately beginning to contract, and my pulse thunder from deep inside of my veins.  The sweet blissful tingling of the beginning of my orgasm that I had been so desperately longing for immediately began to wash over me, and just as it did, I felt Tom quickly begin to pull his hand away. I groaned in extreme disappointment and frustration the second that he moved his touch away from me, and my core ached in an incredibly painful type of need.  _I wanted to hit him.  I wanted to ride him until his eyes rolled back into his head, and then I wanted to hit him._

          “Please…”  I begged as I moved my hand from Tom’s hip over to the length of his painfully hard dick, and then I began stroking him hungrily with my fingers.  Tom’s groaned as he pushed slightly against my touch, and then he gently slid his hand up into the back of my hair.

          “You are a very bad girl, Miss Taylor.”  He whispered against my lips as his hips very slowly began moving against my hand, and then he pulled back just slightly against my hair, somewhat tilting my head back.  I moaned as I quickened my pace against Tom just slightly, and then I leaned forward just before very slowly dragging my tongue over the small swell of his bottom lip.  _What in the hell was wrong with me?  What in the hell was I doing?_

          “Please don’t make me wait all day. I need you.”  I pleaded as I barely recognized my own voice as it left my trembling lips, and then I noticed Tom’s eyes slightly soften in my direction as his fingers began to very gently caress the back of my scalp.

          “And, you have absolutely no idea how badly I both want and need you right now as well, Miss Taylor.  However, I know that having to wait all day to have you again is going to drive me to the point of sheer insanity, and that insanity is something that I do believe that you might enjoy quite thoroughly later on tonight.  I plan to wreck you with how intensely I make love to you, and darling, I promise you that it will be worth the wait.  Now finish your shower, love.  Oh, and don’t forget about that homework.”  He said as he then very slowly leaned down toward my lips, and then kissed me just as he had the night before in the rain.  Hard, passionate, and filled with promises that I was terrified for him to actually keep, and then after a few moments, he once again slowly pulled away.  I stood gasping against the shower wall as I watched Tom then very slowly then leave the confines of the shower, and then eventually the entire bathroom itself.  I stood under the now luke warm spray of the spigot above my head for several minutes as I attempted to grasp the words that my literature professor had just said, and then finally I released a very heavy breath from between my still quite violently trembling lips.

          “Maybe I should have come to my senses.”  I whispered softly to myself knowing full well that I would rather burst into flames than ever see the return of my senses again, and then finally very quickly finished my shower, and then eventually left the confines of the bathroom as well.

          About twenty minutes later, I found myself sitting in the living room of my home away from home, and very casually chatting with Emma about the night before.  So far, we had talked about my uncomfortable evening with Ethan after he had surprisingly shown up on our doorstep before the sun had even full come up, and also about the even more uncomfortable airport goodbye, where I had realized a few things about our relationship that I hadn’t before.  Emma listened intently to nearly every word that I said, never interrupting me even once which was quite unusual, and then finally after I took a much needed breath, she eventually decided to finally chime in.

          “I knew that you never loved him, Lucy.  I could tell, but oddly enough, I could tell that you couldn’t tell.  So did you break up with him yet or are you just gonna wait until you are back in the states to deal with it?”  She finally asked as she repositioned herself slightly where she sat on the large leather sofa beside me, and then took a small sip of her tea that she held tightly in between her hands.  I shrugged slightly as I realized that I hadn’t completely thought that part of the night before through whatsoever, and then I released an incredibly anxious breath from between my lips.  _Reality was rushing in, and to be completely honest, I really didn’t like it._

          “No, I didn’t break up with him last night.  I just didn’t feel right about doing it in the middle of an airport.  It just seemed so cliché, and well, bitchy.”  I answered as I began twisting my fingers slightly uneasily together in my lap just over the knit blanket that covered me, and then I finally sighed heavily once again.

          “Well, we are talking about breaking up with Ethan so I wouldn’t exactly call it bitchy, but I do see where you are coming from, love.  I take that you are just going to deal with him when you get back to America, then?”  Emma asked as she raised one of her fair colored eyebrows quizzically in my direction, and then pushed a handful of her slightly messy golden blonde hair away from her face.  I sighed as I nodded slowly, and then twisted my fingers even more tightly together as I then just slightly shrugged my shoulders.

          “I guess so, but I don’t really know.  He thinks that we are still getting married in just a little over a year, and it doesn’t seem fair to lead him on.  I guess I’ll just have to think about it a bit, and see.  Regardless of when I do it though, my mother is absolutely going to kill me.”  I said as I lifted my eyes back up toward Emma’s, and then widened my gaze slightly in her direction.  Emma smiled as she shook her knowingly, and then shrugged her shoulders over exaggeratedly, signaling that she obviously did not care about my mother’s discomfort at all.

          “Lucy, in the nearly six years that I have known you, your mother has always been on the verge of killing you for some reason or another.  That woman won’t be happy until you become an exact carbon copy of her, and I pray to god that you never will.  This is your life, love.  You have to live it how you see fit, and not just how your mummy wants you to.  You are a twenty-four year old woman who has already made it through Harvard, and is on your way to making it through Cambridge as well.  It’s time to start thinking about making yourself happy, not just about making your mum proud.”   She said as she took another sip from her dark green mug, and then returned it down to the coffee table sitting just beside her.  I nodded slowly taking in my friend’s words, and then I finally sighed still feeling just slightly defeated.  _No matter what Emma said, telling my mother that I wouldn’t be marrying Ethan would be torture.  Torture that I would mostly definitely feel alone._

          “I suppose that you are right.  So, how was your night with Jonathan?  How was the concert?”  I asked as I quickly changed the subject, deciding to reject reality for the current moment, and then widened my eyes slightly curiously in my friend’s direction.  Emma immediately smiled from ear to ear.   _That meant the night was good.  Very very good._

          “Well, those are two very different questions, darling.  The concert was pretty good, the band was actually quite brilliant, and there was a really good turnout of students.  Then afterwards, we went to a coffee shop just off of campus that was still open, and after talking for quite some time, we finally went back to Jonathan’s flat just after the rain eventually let up.”  She explained beaming brightly, and of course momentarily reminding me of the rain, which unfortunately caused my skin to deliciously begin to tingle with memories of Tom’s completely addictive touch.  I bit down gently on my bottom lip as I quickly shook thoughts of Emma’s older brother from my mind, and then I returned my focus intently to our conversation.  _Focus, Lucy._

          “And, how was it once you got back to his flat?  As good as you remembered it to be?”  I asked as I leaned my head lightly against my hand, and then felt water droplets from my still damp hair beginning to run slowly down onto my skin.

          “Lucy, it was even better than I remembered it, it was absolutely amazing.  We shagged for over two fucking hours!  He was insatiable!  I swear, I completely remember why I had a hard time the last time that I stopped seeing him.”  Emma explained as I could see the lovesick glazed over look in her eyes that I remembered quite well from our time at Harvard, and I then nearly jumped out of my skin, when I suddenly heard the front door very unexpectedly swing wide open.

          “Good morning, girls.”  I heard the deep voice of my literature professor ring in from the main hallway just outside of the living room, right before I heard the front door then quickly slam shut, and then the heavy thud of footsteps beginning to make their way closer toward where Emma and I sat.   _No, I wasn’t ready to see him again in front of other people.  Especially if that other person was his sister, aka, my best friend._

          “Tom, we are girl talking right now, could you…?  Oh!  You brought coffee!”  Emma nearly screamed as she sat up excitedly just as her brother walked into the room holding a cardboard carrier of fresh smelling coffee, and carrying a brown paper bag in his free hand.  I swallowed thickly as I took in the sight of my literature professor fully dressed for the first time since the night before, in what appeared to be running clothes, and then felt my heart nearly explode from my chest as I eventually met his eyes.  _God, he was beautiful, and man did he know how to stick to a lie.  Wait, how did he get outside and to a coffee shop without Emma seeing him?_

          “I worry how easily you can be swayed, Emma.  How many times have you taken candy from strangers over the years?”  Tom asked playfully as he made his way further into the living room, and then removed a cup from the carrier that he tightly held, just before then carefully handing it to his sister.  Emma smiled brightly as she took the cup, and then casually shrugged her slender shoulders.

          “Stranger’s candy, is the best kind of candy, Tom.  Please tell me that you have bagels.”  She practically squeaked as she turned back excitedly toward her brother, who then pushed the paper bag he held quickly into her hands.  _I had to admit, their relationship was quite adorable once you got used to the incredibly heavy amount of sarcasm that accompanied it._

          “Have some manners, and please save some for Lucy, Emma.  She appears to need to regain her strength.”  Tom said sarcastically as his eyes briefly moved back toward mine, and then immediately caused my cheeks to practically burst into flames against me.  _That’s it.  I was definitely going to hit him._

          “Leave her alone, Tom.  She just finally realized last night that Ethan is a total arsehole, and that she wants absolutely nothing further to do with him.  That is bound to take its toll on a person, so please don’t be an ass.”  Emma defended as she lovingly rubbed her hand over my knee, and then quickly reached into the brown paper bag immediately searching for nourishment.  I sighed as I desperately avoided Tom’s eyes, and then shrugged my shoulders as casually as I possibly could.

          “Honestly, I am fine.  I am just tired.”  I said as I finally looked up toward Tom, who was now holding a travel cup of coffee out in my direction.  He smiled a genuine completely breathtaking smile as his eyes practically consumed me, and then he nodded down carefully down toward the cup.

          “Well _honestly_ , this might help, darling.  You might want to eat something also.  Well, that is if there is anything left after Emma gets through with it.”  Tom said slightly sarcastically as I finally took the warm cup from his hand, and then turned my attention back toward Emma who now had two bagels in her hand and quite obviously something else already stuffed inside her mouth.  I laughed to myself as I leaned back slightly against the softness of the sofa behind me, and then I nodded my head slowly in Tom’s direction.

          “Don’t worry, I lived with her for four years back at Harvard.  I am well aware of what it is like to either get to the food first or simply not eat anything at all.  I lost ten pounds our first year, though.  Thanks to Emma, I never had to worry about the freshman fifteen.”  I joked as I sipped my coffee slowly, and immediately reveled in the rich taste of it as it lingered heavily on my tongue.  Tom smiled as he appeared to watch me carefully enjoying my coffee, and then he eventually turned his eyes back over toward Emma.

          “For Christ Sakes, give her a bagel, Emma.  Please don’t make me come over there.”  He joked as he narrowed his eyes sternly toward his sister, and then carefully nodded back toward me.  Emma huffed as she reached back into the bag and pulled out a bagel that appeared as if it had blueberries in it, and then tossed it quickly in my direction.  I laughed as I barely caught it, and then immediately took a very large bite.  _I actually was starting to feel quite hungry._

          “You’re absolutely no fun at all, Tom.  So, how was everyone else’s night last night?  Lucy, anything interesting happen after you dropped off Mr. Arsehole at the airport?”  Emma asked as she casually turned her attention back toward me, and then leaned back slightly further against the sofa.  I swallowed thickly as my heart pounded roughly in my ears as images from the night before once again rushed into my mind, and the sounds of my own pleasured screams immediately echoed throughout the space all around me.  _Yes, actually something VERY interesting happened last night, Emma._

          “Um…not really.  I just went to bed really early after doing some of my coursework.”  I stuttered out incredibly ungracefully as I noticed Tom watching me with an incredibly amused look on his face, and Emma watching me as if everything was just all the same as usual.

          “I’m sorry that I wasn’t here, love.  Tom, why did you just let her hide in her room until she was forced to go to bed all upset?  You can be relatively entertaining when you want to be.  Why the fuck didn’t you entertain her?”   Emma said immediately turning toward her brother, and instantly causing me to want to run as quickly as I could from the quaint expanse of the living room around me.  Tom shrugged his shoulders as he kept his eyes intently on mine, and then he very slowly took a drink from his coffee cup.  _God, I loved the way that he looked at me._

          “My apologies, Emma, I didn’t want to upset Lucy any further judging by the state that she was already in.  Hell, by the time that we got home, she could barely even make it up the stairs.”  He said as his eyes slightly brightened toward mine, and subsequently caused a rush of heat to move up very quickly from my center.  I swallowed thickly as I felt the same mixture of anger and intense need rising inside of me for the man sitting across the room from me that I had felt in the shower when he had so abruptly left me just a short time before, and then I immediately attempted to push it away as fast as I possibly could.

          “You were that upset, Lucy?  Shit love, why didn’t you call me?  I would have come home if I would have known that you were that much of a mess.”  Emma said with genuine concern flooding her soft voice as she once again touched her fingers to the side of my knee, and then stared back at me with incredibly worried appearing eyes.  I sighed as I quickly shook my head, and then slid my hand just over the top of Emma’s.  _I was going to kill Tom._

          “I honestly was fine, and am fine, Emma.  I would have never called you when you were with Jonathan.  It sounds like you most likely wouldn’t have heard the phone anyway.”  I said with a smile as I suggestively raised my brow, and then nodded knowingly in my friend’s direction.  Emma smiled brightly as I watched her cheeks just slightly blush, and I immediately knew that I had successfully once again changed the conversation.  _Thank God!_

          “Oh my god, Lucy, it was so amazing.  I swear I came like three fucking times!”  Emma squeaked in a slightly quiet scream as she looked at me with her wide pale blue colored eyes, and automatically ignored the slightly disgusted groan that immediately came from that of her older brother just across the room.

          “Wow, that’s…impressive.”  I stuttered slightly as I avoided Tom’s eyes that I felt like could have possibly been on me, and then I smiled brightly at my friend.  Emma sighed as she reached out and grabbed my hands quickly with hers, and then squeezed my fingers tightly.

          “Yes love, it is.  I know that since you have only been with the bumbling idiot from secondary school, and of course fucking Ethan, that you don’t really have a ton of experience to draw from, but it was absolutely amazing.  I swear, if you ever find a man that can push your buttons like that and make you see stars behind your eyes, never let him go.  I don’t care how much of an arsehole he is, those orgasms are more than worth it.”  She said in an almost giddy sounding voice just as she began bouncing up and down on the sofa, and then once again nibbling on her third bagel of the morning.  Tom’s eyes were still on me, but thankfully this time, he remained quiet.

          “I will keep that in mind, Emma.  So, are you planning on seeing him again?”  I asked remembering that Emma had told me that her relationship with Jonathan was complicated, and that even though he apparently was an incredible lay, he wasn’t an incredible boyfriend.  Emma sighed as she shrugged her shoulders slightly, but still wore a very silly grin on her face just the same.

          “I don’t know.  I hope so, though.  Hey, do you want to go to the shops with me today?  I thought we could get some new clothes for next weekend.”  She said with a wink as she once again began bouncing up and down on the sofa beside me.  I sighed as I turned my eyes carefully back in Tom’s direction, and immediately remembered the small stack of coursework that I had still had waiting for me upstairs.  The logical portion of my mind screamed at me to go shopping with Emma and to not allow the man sitting across from me to control any single part of my day, but the very illogical portion of me that resided mainly between my legs, well it had a very different opinion on the matter.  Tom’s eyes burned into mine as he appeared to patiently await my answer, and the intensity of his stare caused the muscles in my lower stomach to just lightly begin to twitch.  _Use your brain, Lucy.  Stop thinking with your obviously out of control hormones, and use your fucking brain._

          “I…um…I have a lot of coursework to still get done before tomorrow, Emma.  Do you think that maybe we could go shopping sometime later this week?”  I asked shakily as I watched Tom appear to desperately fight a smile from out of the corner of my eye, and then Emma deflate slightly, but then still nod with a smile just before she finally replied.

          “That’s fine, love, we can go this week.  I already forced you to go out Friday night, and abandon your school work.  I won’t further continue to disrupt your education.”  She said playfully as she retrieved her mug from off of the coffee table, and then took another incredibly quick drink.  I nodded as I smiled slightly, and then released an anxious breath from between my lips.  _What was I doing?  What the hell had happened to me so quickly?_

          “You aren’t disrupting my education, but thank you for understanding.  Well, I suppose I’d better get to it.  I have a literature paper due on Tuesday.”  I groaned as I closed my eyes suddenly remembering the work that I had to get done that I honestly still didn’t one hundred percent understand.  Tom smiled deviously from his spot in front of me, and then he just slightly rolled his beautiful eyes in my direction.

          “Don’t sound so excited, Miss Taylor.  It’s honestly not as bad as you are making it.”  He said as he carefully crossed one of his long legs over the other, and then leaned back slightly in his chair.  My throat went dry as I allowed my eyes to very slowly run over the length of Tom’s body, and memories from just a short time before in the shower, to quickly once again drift into my mind.  _He had said that he was going to wreck me.  What the hell did that even mean?_

          “Stop picking on her, and just give her an A already, Tom.  I swear, you are such a jerk when it comes to your classes.”  Emma said with annoyance in her voice as she narrowed her eyes at her brother, and then made a slightly angry face in his direction.  Tom smiled a small incredibly seductive smile as he took another drink of his coffee, and then he turned his eyes carefully back toward me.

          “Lucy will get the grade that she earns, Emma.  It will take a lot of hard work, endurance, and…patience.  But, she will most definitely get what she deserves.”  He said in a voice that I thought was far too low to be using in the presence of his sister, and that immediately caused my body to quite obviously begin to tremble.  Tom smiled slightly wider as he continued to watch me, and as I felt his stare moving carefully over my body, I felt my clit becoming slightly slick from in between my thighs.  _God, I didn’t know if I could wait until tonight._

          “You’re still an arsehole, Tom.  You are an arsehole, and you know it.”  Emma said as she slowly shook her head, and then began once again eating her food.  I sighed as I quickly pushed myself up to stand, and then decided that it was definitely time to leave the now suddenly overheated feeling room.

          “I think it’s time for me to go get started.  I will take a break later, and come chat with you, Emma.  I would love to hear more about last night.”  I said quickly as I forced a smile onto my face just as I began moving slightly unsteadily toward the staircase, and closer toward the safety of my bedroom.

          “Good luck, Lucy.”  Emma called back slightly absentmindedly as she carefully retrieved a magazine from the coffee table, and then began flipping quickly through its bright glossy pages.  I sighed as I finally stepped up onto the first floor landing, and quickly began making my way toward the first polished wooden stair.

          “Tick tock, Miss Taylor.  The day is very quickly fading away from you.”  Tom called from behind me, causing me to immediately turn around, and unfortunately meet his eyes in the distance.  My body ached for him as I stared at him in his black gym shorts, and white T-shirt, and my heart pounded roughly inside of my chest at the thought of being able to have him again that night.  I had no idea how I was going to make it through the rest of the day.    _No fucking idea…_

          The seconds moved by like hours, but finally after staring at my coursework blankly for longer than I could honestly even keep track of, I finally dove into my studies and began making some actual process on my work.  I read through countless pages of law material that I would need to know for the assessment that I would be having in just two days’ time, and I completed a small presentation for my Ethics class that I would need to give just before noon the next day.  I hastily moved through every single law assignment that needed to be completed for the upcoming week, and then I came to an abrupt halt, just as soon as I moved on to my literature requirements.  I stared down helplessly at my playbook for _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ that I prayed that after the next week I would never again have to see, and then I forced myself to read the words that were staring menacingly back at me.

          “Things base and vile, holding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity. Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. Nor hath Love's mind of any judgment taste; Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste.”  I read aloud from my playbook as I tapped my foot gently against the lush carpet beneath my feet, and attempted to keep the beat inside of my head as if I was memorizing some sort of song.

          “And therefore is Love said to be a child, Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.  As waggish boys in game themselves forswear, So the boy Love is perjured everywhere.”  I continued as tapped my foot slightly harder, and desperately attempted to push Shakespeare’s words forcefully into my brain and somehow make some sort of sense of them.

          “I don’t believe that I have ever heard Shakespeare sound so entrancing.”  I suddenly heard the deep voice of my literature professor say from the other side of my room, and immediately jar me from my reading, and also cause me to nearly fall out of my chair.

          “I…um…I was just reviewing.  I’m actually much farther than this.”  I defended quickly as I watched Tom very slowly move into my bedroom, now wearing a pair of dark wash jeans and a button down red flannel shirt, and then close my door very quietly behind him.  I swallowed thickly at the sudden realization that we were once again alone, and then turned my head toward my digital clock that sat on my bedside table.  _Fuck, it was only five-thirty._

“You do not need to defend yourself to me, Lucy.  How you prepare for my class is none of my business, and should be done as you see fit.  Can I assume that you just might possibly actually like this part of the play?  I have heard you read it more than once.”  Tom said as he pulled another chair out from the other side of my small desk, and then pulled it up beside where I sat.  I swallowed thickly as I attempted to push my completely inappropriate thoughts regarding the man sitting just about thirty inches away from me from my mind, and then I very slowly nodded my head. 

          “Yes, I think that would be safe for you to assume.  As strange as it sounds, I actually do kind of like this speech of Helena’s.”  I admitted as I lifted my eyes up toward Tom’s, and immediately noticed that he was smiling quite brightly back at me.

          “And, what about it do you like?”  He asked with a very interested tone as he leaned his head lightly against one of his fingers, and then lowered his eyes down toward where I sat.  I released a slightly shaky breath as I worried that I might sound stupid in my answer, but then I shrugged my shoulders, and decided to go ahead with my response regardless.

          “Um…I guess I just like how Helena explains the heartbreak that she is feeling so matter of factly, and without much shame at all.  I mean, instead of crying and saying that life isn’t fair, she instead just tells it like it is.  She explains how before Hermia showed up, it was her that Demetrius doted on and her that he gave all of his affections to, and that it is incredibly painful to now see him giving all of that to someone else.  She openly admits that she knows that she is a fool for obsessing over him like she does even though she knows that he no longer loves her, but she does it anyway because she believes there is nothing else that she can do.  I like how she talks about love like it is something that is so much stronger than any person is, and how it doesn’t see with clear vision or a firmly set mind.  You can sense the betrayal in her voice even before her plan to interfere in her ex’s new relationship is revealed.  I guess I like how she seems so complex.  She isn’t stupid or weak, she is just…desperate.”  I blurted out slightly mindlessly as I sat completely vulnerable before my professor, and then swallowed thickly immediately after my words had finally left my lips.  I hesitantly turned my gaze back toward Tom’s, and then noticed a very strange look in his beautiful ocean colored eyes as he continued to stare back at me.  _Oh no, that hadn’t been at all what her speech had been about, had it?_

          “Um…that wasn’t right, was it?”  I asked before Tom could even respond as I felt my nerves anxiously beginning to twitch beneath my skin, and my heart beginning to move slightly faster from inside of my chest.  Tom finally smiled as he very slowly shook his head, and then he moved his eyes very carefully to line up with mine.

          “It wasn’t that it wasn’t right, Miss Taylor.  My question had no correct answer.  I am merely thinking about what you said, and honestly enjoying quite immensely that you said it.  Most of the students in my class seem to so intensely identify with Hermia because of the world around her attempting to come between her and the man that she loves, but instead, you find Helena’s words more moving.  Let me ask you, what do you think that you would do if you were in her situation?  Would you tattle on your ex-lover and his new partner in order to keep them apart, and also possibly punish them?”  Tom asked as he leaned forward slightly in his seat, and then rested his elbows on his knees as he suddenly seemed incredibly interested in our conversation.  I shrugged my shoulders slightly as I allowed his question to drift around inside of my mind for a moment, and then finally, I eventually shook my head.

          “No, actually I don’t think that I would.  During this time, what Demetrius and Hermia were doing would have been considered a crime, and quite quickly led to both of their death.  I don’t know if I could ever be angry enough at someone to wish them that kind of harm.  I think that I would rather live in misery, than to see someone that I loved as much as Helena claims to love Demetrius hurt.  That just isn’t my nature.”  I answered as I looked down and noticed that Tom’s hands were now dangerously close to mine, and I immediately felt my flesh begin to ache painfully for his touch.  I wasn’t sure what it was about the content of the conversation that we were currently having, but something about our discussion was causing me to want Tom even more than I had just a few hours before when we had been trapped in the overheated expanse of his living room.   _And trust me, that was quite a lot._

          “I am sure that Helena didn’t believe that it was in her nature in the beginning either, Lucy.  Passion can make people very desperate, and cause them to do things that they never believed that they would.”  Tom said in a slightly hushed voice just as I felt his fingers gently brush against my knee, and then his eyes once again very intensely meet mine.  I swallowed thickly as I immediately felt the quite obvious shift in our conversation, and then I released a very heavy breath from between my lips.

          “I suppose that notion does sound familiar.”  I whispered slightly breathlessly as Tom’s fingers continued to very carefully caress the skin that my cotton sleep shorts didn’t cover, and caused the entirety of my skin to breakout in a sea of quite visible goose bumps.  Tom smiled slightly to himself as he slowly nodded his head, and then he ran his index finger up onto the top of my thigh.  _Oh god, please don’t ever stop touching me._

          “I have twenty-four more papers to grade before tomorrow morning, Lucy.  I have picked up my pen about a hundred different times, but every time I do, the only thing that I can think about is you.”  He whispered as his finger moved slightly higher, and my heart began to practically slam against the delicate walls of my chest.  I swallowed thickly as I told myself to be strong, and to remember what Professor Smooth Talker had done to me in the shower just about six hours before.

          “Well, just think.  The day is almost over, and I am just about an hour away from being done with my coursework.  You have almost completed in your task of senselessly torturing me.”  I said with a slightly uneasy laugh as I then swallowed roughly once again, and then moved my hand down toward Tom’s, just lightly grazing his fingertips.  Tom released a very shaky breath as I could practically taste the lust pouring off of him, and then he dropped his head slightly lower, just before he gently kissed the top of my knee.  _Holy mother of god, please don’t do that._

          “Fuck your coursework.  I want you in my bed, now.”  Tom groaned as his mouth moved to the inside of my knee, and his kiss suddenly became much deeper than before.  I swallowed thickly as I attempted to keep a hold on my breathing, and also at the same time somehow find my words.

          “We...can’t.  Emma is awake, and most likely waiting for us to all have dinner soon.  We just need to wait a few…more hours.”  I reasoned as my last two words came out slightly breathlessly as I felt Tom’s teeth move over the delicate flesh of my inner thigh, and then his tongue trace over the line that he had just made very slowly.

          “I don’t want to have dinner, I want to have you.”  He said as he slowly lifted his head from my leg just as my hand found the side of his face, and then he very hungrily ran his teeth over the inside of my palm. _That simple move was by far one of the most arousing things that I had ever seen._

          “God, I want you too.”  I whispered as I felt my conviction immediately caving as I watched Tom begin to very seductively kiss up toward my wrist, and subsequently cause my core to once again become dangerously wet.  I swallowed thickly as I quickly closed my legs, and then I attempted to avoid Tom’s eyes as they once again swiftly found mine.

          “Don’t hide from me, Lucy. Please, don’t hide.”  Tom whispered in a voice that quite literally dripped of sex, just as he pressed his fingers against the inside of my closed knees, and then added just a slight amount of pressure to his touch.  I swallowed thickly as I kept my eyes intently on the man sitting before me, and then I very slowly opened my legs.  _Lucy, what are you doing?_

          “We need to be careful, Tom.  Emma can’t find out…No one can find out.”  I choked out quietly as I watched one of Tom’s hands very slowly slide up the inside of my thigh, and then stop just a few inches away from my center.  My breathing immediately picked up as he then very carefully finally finished his journey, and eventually rubbed his fingers very deliberately against my material covered core.  _It felt so strangely intense that it almost hurt to endure it._

          “Relax, Lucy.  Just look at me.”  Tom whispered as he began rubbing slow circles over my clit that was now throbbing beneath my incredibly thin shorts, and then he finally dropped his forehead down toward mine.

          “I shouldn’t want you again this badly.  We were just together this morning.”  I breathed out on a slightly broken moan as Tom added a slight amount more of pressure to his fingertips, and then began moving over me somewhat more quickly.

          “Don’t tell yourself what you should or should not feel, Lucy.  Just feel it.  Feel me.”  He whispered against my lips as I felt my core become completely drenched in my own desire, and my pulse nearly burst out from inside of my veins.

          “I can’t wait until tonight.  Please don’t make me wait until tonight.”  I begged in a painfully desperate voice as I slid one of my hands out over the length of Tom’s tightly muscled forearm, and then longingly dug my fingernails just slightly into his skin.  _I felt him shiver against me the second that I pressed against his skin, and the sensation nearly devoured me._

          “Emma’s bedroom is directly below yours, darling.  If I take you in here now, she will quite possibly hear us.”  He said as his movements against my core became even faster, and his breathing against my lips became even rougher.  I swallowed thickly as I gasped feeling my muscles begin to just slightly tighten, and my desperation growing quickly with every single second that passed me by.

          “I’ll be quiet.  I swear I’ll be quiet.”  I whispered against Tom’s lips as I shakily leaned forward and allowed my tongue to briefly taste his skin, and then moved slowly back away just as soon as I heard us both quietly groan.

          “Come here.”  Tom finally breathed against me, and then a second later, he crushed his lips against mine in an incredibly starved tasting kiss that caused my eyes to immediately fall closed.  I was done fighting, I couldn’t wait anymore.

          Within the matter of minutes, Tom had me pulled up to my feet, and was leading me backwards across the length of my bedroom.  My arms were tangled around his neck as with every move I attempted to pull him even closer, and our tongues fought for dominance inside of our mouths as we kissed each other as if we hadn’t seen each other in years.  Finally, after walking for what felt like an eternity, I felt my back roughly hit the wall behind me, and then I felt Tom pull me tight against his form.  Suddenly, I was lifted up off of the floor and wrapped tightly around my literature professor’s body, and soon after that I heard myself gasp as my sleep shorts were swiftly ripped from the supple flesh of my slightly trembling hips.

          “I need you inside of me.”  I whispered heatedly against Tom’s lips as I felt his fingers hook into a small gap in my pink lace panties, and then suddenly rip them from my body as well.  I swallowed as I kept my eyes on the man against me, and then I whimpered slightly as I heard his pants finally unzip.  _I wanted him so fucking badly…_

          “I had every single fucking intention of torturing you relentlessly tonight, Lucy.”  Tom whispered as he released himself from his pants, and then very slowly began rubbing the head of his deliciously hard dick against the expanse of my now incredibly swollen clit.  I whimpered once again as I felt myself become even wetter, and then I pushed back roughly against him.

          “Do you still want to torture me, Professor?”  I asked from low with in my throat as I rubbed my core down rhythmically against Tom, and in turn, pulled a beautiful sounding groan from just between his seductive lips.

          “God yes, darling.  Unfortunately, my desire to fuck your godforsaken brains out is much more intense than that right now, so my previous intentions will just simply have to wait.”  Tom said as he then swiftly pushed deep inside of me, and then pressed my body back hard against the wall as my nails dug deeply into the flesh of his shoulders.

          “Fuck…”  I whimpered in a high pitched voice as my eyes immediately fluttered closed, and my head quickly hit the wall behind me.  Tom groaned as I felt his hand quickly snake behind the back of my head, and then pull my face back down tightly against his.

          “Look at me while I fuck you, Lucy. Please, fucking look at me.”  He moaned as his last few words came out slightly desperate, and then he pushed back inside of me hard once again.  The entire world around us completely disappeared, and once again, absolutely no consequences for our actions even once entered my mind.

          Over the next few absolutely soul consuming moments, I leaned back against the wall behind me, and desperately clutched Tom’s body as he drove himself so deeply inside of me that it caused my mind to quite helplessly swirl out of control.  My heart pounded roughly from inside of my chest as I finally dropped my head once again down against Tom’s forehead, and my core ached in complete need as he so deliciously stretched my slick walls that quite literally strangled him.  My body began to tense as the early signs of my orgasm began to move over me, and just as I heard quiet moans of complete euphoria beginning to escape my lips, I felt Tom’s mouth quickly move over mine.

          “Tell me how good it feels when I am inside of you, Lucy.”  He whispered against my lips as he began thrusting even harder against me, and left his mouth lingering hungrily against mine.  I groaned as I felt my core become even slicker, and then my clit begin to tingle deliciously with indescribable pleasure.

          “It feels so good.  You feel so good.  God, I want more.”  I moaned as I began grinding my hips down roughly against Tom’s, and then drug my hands slowly up the sides of his neck.  Tom groaned against my mouth just as I tangled my fingers deeply into the back of his hair, and then I pulled gently against his scalp.

          “You want more, darling?  Tell me what it is that you want more of.”  He said against the softness of my lips as he slid one hand up the side of my back just before then hooking it carefully over my shoulder, and then tangled his other hand into the waves of my unruly sandy colored hair.

          “I want more…of you.  Fuck, I want all of you.”  I groaned as I quickly dropped my mouth away from Tom’s lips, and then began desperately kissing and sucking down the length of his incredibly tensed feeling neck.  Tom groaned as he pulled himself even harder inside of me, and then shifted his hips just slightly in a different direction.  _I had no idea what was wrong with me, but the second that Tom moved his hips, I no longer honestly cared._

          “Look…at…me.”  Tom breathed heavily just as my tongue swept lightly against his collarbone, and just before he swiftly pulled my head back away from his skin.  I groaned at the strangely arousing feeling of pain shooting through the back of my scalp at his action, and then I once again met Tom’s entrancing ocean eyes.

          “Please don’t stop.”  I begged on a slightly broken whisper as I lowered my mouth down to Tom’s, but kept my eyes obediently on his.  Tom groaned as he ground his hips even more roughly against mine, and then he swallowed very thickly inside of his throat.

          “Darling, if I keep going like this, there is a good chance that you won’t be able to walk tomorrow.”  He whispered in a voice that I could sense had been meant to be humorous, but immediately turned lustful as he once again roughly drove himself deep inside of me.  I whimpered slightly louder as I began to feel the intense sensation of fire and ice moving up from my core, and my skin immediately breaking out once again in goose bumps in response to it.

          “I don’t care, I want to ache.  I want to remember what you feel like.  I want to remember how good you feel inside of me.”  I whispered from my trembling lips as I felt my body beginning to tighten, and my heart beginning to skip a few beats inside of my chest.  Tom leaned closer toward my mouth just as I felt his arms beginning to shake around me, and his thrusts becoming even more so urgent than before.

          “Fuck, Lucy.”  He groaned as his eyes rolled halfway shut for just a moment, and then he once again lowered his gaze toward me.  I stared into the frantic storm that was raging deep inside of the beautiful vision that was Tom’s eyes, and as I did, I quickly felt my release beginning to quite intensely wash over me.

          “Tom…”  I cried out slightly louder than I most likely should have, and immediately felt one of Tom’s hands move gently over my mouth.  I groaned as I felt the first shock wave of blissful sensation begin to move over me, and then I bit down deeply on Tom’s flesh just as I screamed against his hand.

          “Good girl, cum for me.  Cum hard for your professor.”  Tom said heatedly as he pushed even harder inside of me, immediately causing another ripple of heat to move through my soaked core, and also causing my muscles in my lower stomach to almost painfully begin to contract.

          “God, Tom…”  I moaned against Tom’s hand as I once again bit down, and then began grinding my hips in a frantic rhythm, that caused my orgasm to immediately shift into complete overdrive.

          “Lucy, shit.”  Tom gasped as I felt his knees roughly hit the wall behind me, and then his mouth collide with my shoulder, just before he bit into my skin so hard that I was positive that he definitely left a mark.  _And, that made me cum even harder._

          “Mmm…”  I whimpered as I rocked my hips as hard as I could against Tom’s body, and very quickly, pulled his orgasm out of him as he cursed almost violently against my shoulder.

          “Jesus fucking Christ, Lucy.”  He moaned as I felt him suddenly fill me completely, and then thrust into me one last time, causing his seed to begin to deliciously run down the inside of one of my thighs.

          “Oh my god.”  I whispered as Tom finally removed his hand from over my lips, and then I quickly dropped my head down to the warm crook just between his neck and shoulder.  Tom groaned as he allowed his body to push slightly harder against mine as he pulled me tightly into his embrace, and then he gently kissed the side of my head just as soon as he finally completely stopped moving.

          “We…we can’t do anything like this again.  We have to be careful.  We can’t do this when Emma is awake or if we are anywhere near the campus.  We have to be careful.”  I whispered from my incredibly sexually satiated haze, and then breathed heavily against Tom’s skin.  Tom nodded against my head as he kissed the side of my neck softly, and then he swallowed thickly once again.

          “We will.  I promise we will.”  He whispered against my flesh, but as the words left his lips, I was quite certain that we both knew that what we both had said had most likely been lies.  It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since the first time that Tom and I had made love, and we already couldn’t keep ourselves under control.  How in the hell were we going to manage this if we actually continued?  How in the hell were we going to regain at least a small amount of our control?


	11. Chapter 11

_“Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man.”_

_-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet_

            It was just nearing two o’clock in the afternoon when I found myself sitting in the center of my nearly completely filled literature lecture hall, and staring blankly toward the front of the room, completely lost in my own thoughts.  The room around me was quite cold as the temperature had dropped significantly since the Friday before, and the icy cold surface of my slightly splintery wooden chair pressed roughly against my partially bared legs, harshly reminding me that since it was now autumn it might be in my best interest to start wearing jeans.  Multiple different hushed conversations regarding the weekend that had just passed buzzed wildly against my ears as I continued staring toward the center of the classroom that was still completely void of both my mind consuming professor and his incredibly annoying teaching assistant, and the smell of dust lingered heavily in the air around me just as it did in nearly every other area of the incredibly aged English Faculty building.  My mind ached as exhaustion began to swiftly set in after a weekend of barely any sleep at all, and then just as I felt my eyes very heavily beginning to forcefully fall closed, I felt someone drop down into the seat just next to mine.  _I had been so close…_

            “Hey, love.  I see that you are here early as usual.”  Emily’s sweet voice chirped happily as she quickly situated herself in her chair just to my right hand side, and then began carefully unpacking her knap sack just as she always so diligently did.  I smiled as I slowly nodded my head, and then I yawned to myself just before I finally spoke to my friend.  _God, I was exhausted._

            “Yeah, my last law class for the day gets over just a little bit after noon, so I usually head over here after I get something to eat.  It gives me time to do a little extra reviewing, and also ensures that I am never _ever_ late again.”  I said as I widened my eyes slightly dramatically, reminding both of us of my incredibly unfortunate first day, and also briefly reminding myself of the first time that I had laid eyes on my breathtakingly gorgeous literature professor, who quite abruptly had seemed to wreck absolute havoc on my young life.  _I hadn’t seen Tom since the night before, and he had been quite honestly consuming my mind nearly every single second since._

“Oh, I really wouldn’t worry about Professor Hiddleston’s little threat if I were you, Lucy.  You are friends with his sister for crying out loud.  Oh my god, I meant to call you this weekend.  How was Emma Saturday morning?  She was so blitzed when we finally left the club!” Emily asked suddenly changing topics as she then turned toward me with wide excited appearing eyes, and began bouncing up and down just slightly in her seat.  I smiled as I shrugged my shoulders just enough for my friend to be able to notice my movement, and then I carefully licked my lips before I finally answered her.

            “She was in pain, but Emma is a very fast healer, so she was back to her old self again by the afternoon.  How was the rest of you and Benjamin’s weekend?  Did you two do anything fun?”  I asked as I began mindlessly twirling my pen gently between my thumb and index finger, and then stared back at my friend patiently awaiting her reply.

            “It was fine.  We went to the party that I told you about when we got back to the dorms, and it actually ended up not being half bad.  One of the girls that lives on my floor _did_ get sick and throw up all over the hallway, but that really isn’t anything that hasn’t happened already a million times before.  On Saturday, we mostly just laid around and watched movies while Benjamin very unsuccessfully hit on my roommate, and then yesterday, I just mainly spent my day studying.”  Emily answered as she shrugged her slender shoulders slightly, and then picked up her pen in what appeared to be automatic anticipation, just a few seconds after she glanced over toward the lecture hall’s only visible clock.  _She had to be the most dedicated literature student that I had ever met in my life._

            “Well, that sounds like fun.  So, if you don’t mind me asking, what is the deal with you and Benjamin anyway?  Are you two just friends or are you…?”  I asked as I motioned slightly suggestively with my hand, and then smiled just as I watched Emily suddenly begin to laugh very loudly before me.  Quickly, my friend began shaking her head in almost a slightly frantic fashion, and then a few seconds later she immediately answered my question as if I had been absolutely insane for even asking it.

            “Oh no, we are just friends.  Benjamin and I have known each other for quite some time, and so we have just always been very close.  Our mums were friends when we were little, and so we kind of grew up together.  I could never imagine doing anything with him like that, and I am pretty sure that he feels the same way.  Well, unless he is shit faced.  In that case, he is willing to stick his knob in anyone who has a working vagina.”  She answered as she continued to laugh lightly to herself, and then nodded knowingly back in my direction.  I smiled as I shrugged my shoulders half-heartedly, and then I shifted my body just slightly where I sat. 

            “Ok okay, I was just wondering since you guys came to the club together this weekend.  Wow, it’s after two, and Tom…I mean Professor Hiddleston, isn’t here yet.  Did I miss the memo that we didn’t have to come to class today?”  I asked just after I looked up at the clock and noticed that it was now already almost two-fifteen, and immediately attempted to add humor to my question so that I didn’t seem as anxious to see my literature professor as I honestly was.  It had been nearly sixteen hours since I had last seen Tom, and I had quite literally felt every single second in between.  Had I been able to sleep the night before maybe that span of time wouldn’t have seemed so painfully long, but I honestly doubted that it would have made absolutely any difference at all.  _No, I was absolutely certain that it wouldn’t have made any difference at all._

“No, I definitely know that we have class.  Professor Hiddleston has never canceled a lecture before, like…ever.  Maybe he’s just still hung over from the weekend, and running late or something.  I swear, I nearly choked on my tongue when I saw the two of you together on Friday night at the club.  I couldn’t believe that out of all of the girls chomping at the bit to get to him, that he was with you of all people.  When I found out that you were friends with his sister it all made a lot more sense, but for a minute there, my mind was honestly swirling.”  Emily answered mindlessly as she leaned back slightly in her chair, and then crossed one of her long jean clad legs casually over the other.  I felt my jaw clench automatically at yet another back handed comment that I had been given by my _friend_ , and then I very carefully cleared my suddenly dry feeling throat before I spoke once again.  _It was like this girl went out of her way to very properly insult me._

            “What is that supposed to mean?  _You of all people_?”  I asked with a slight edge in my tone that I had honestly attempted to smooth out before my words had escaped my lips, but that my suddenly intense anger would simply not allow me completely dissolve due to my foolish pride.  Emily turned back toward me obviously noticing the incredibly offended expression on my face, and then she quickly began shaking her head in my direction.

            “Oh no, I didn’t mean that in a bad way, Lucy.  I just meant that…well…I mean you have to admit that someone seeing the two of you together might be just slightly puzzled.  You are a law student from America who hates Shakespeare, and who originally thought that iambic pentameter was a unit of actual physical measurement.  Professor Hiddleston is a classically trained literature professor who specializes in an area that you find incredibly annoying, and who lets just be honest, most likely spends his personal time with models at the very least.  The two of you just don’t really…add up together, that’s all.  It’s not an insult.  It’s just…an observation.”  She said very matter of factly as she stared back at me with her innocent hazel colored eyes, and then smiled warmly in my direction.  My heart sank slightly inside of my chest at her answer, but my brain took in the very factual information that my friend had unknowingly very harshly just given to me.  _It might not have been fun to hear, but in all honesty, Emily hadn’t exactly been wrong in her observation._

            “Well, that might be your observation, but…”  I started to rebut with far more emotion in my voice than even I knew was honestly necessary, but I was thankfully interrupted just as the door to my right hand side quickly opened, and then Tom’s teaching assistant casually walked in.  My heart fell slightly inside of my chest as I noticed that no one else walked in behind the incredibly creepy professor-in-training who always looked at me as if I was his dinner, but I straightened myself up in my seat regardless, and decided to pretend that I didn’t at all even slightly care that our main teacher was in fact still missing in action.  _Sweet Jesus, I cared.  God, I wanted to see him.  Why the hell did I feel so fucking desperate to see him?_

“Good afternoon, everyone.  I apologize for my tardiness, but we do still have a lot of material to cover with the remainder of our time together today, so if you would all please have your playbooks ready, it would be much appreciated.”  Benjamin began far too formally as he leaned back slightly against Tom’s large freshly polished oak desk, and then ran one of his hands through his slightly messy light brown hair.  There was just something about Benjamin leaning against my literature professor’s desk that I really didn’t like, and that made me want to immediately slap him for absolutely no logical reason whatsoever.  _Except for the reason that I just honestly didn’t like him touching Tom’s stuff or pretending as if he was an even somewhat adequate teaching replacement for the man who now apparently was completely destroying my young mind.  Oh sweet Jesus, what was wrong with me?_

            “Um…Benjamin, I was just wondering if Professor Hiddleston was coming to class today?  I…um…need to discuss the paper that is due tomorrow with him.”  A girl with slightly mousy brown hair and intensely overly eager brown eyes suddenly asked from the opposite side of the classroom, and immediately caused the lecture hall around me to break out into a hushed wave of frantic whispers.  Benjamin sighed from his place at the front of the room, and then forced a smile onto his still just slightly tensely held face.  

            “Professor Hiddleston is otherwise occupied today as he has been called into a meeting with the rest of the English Faculty’s Board.  If you have any questions regarding the material or assignments for this course, I would be happy to be of assistance to you.  Well, now that is settled, shall we begin with today’s selection?”  He asked tightly as he stared out over the room before him, and appeared to await any further questions regarding the whereabouts of Professor Hiddleston, that he so obviously did not want to continue to answer.  The room suddenly fell quiet, and as it did, so did my once overly excited naïve young heart.  _God, I hated how much I wanted to see him._

            After fifty-five painfully long minutes of listening to Benjamin completely over compensate for Tom’s absence and unsuccessfully attempt to make the lecture hall even somewhat enjoyable, my last class for the day finally ended, and I was released to return to my home away from home where I would hopefully eventually find the man that I was now sadly just slightly obsessing over.  Carefully, I gathered up all of my materials that I had left completely untouched while I hadn’t even pretended to pay attention to Benjamin’s lecture, and then finally I pushed myself up onto my feet just as I began quickly making my way toward the classroom door.  I turned the knob to my only exit slowly once I had reached it as my head began to painfully ache from days of complete over exertion, and then just before I had gotten the door completely open in front of me, I heard a voice call toward me from the opposite side of the room.  _Shit, I really needed to learn to move faster._

            “Leaving in such a hurry, Miss America?”  Benjamin asked as I heard him making his way swiftly toward the space surrounding me, and referring to me once again by my most loathed nickname. _It was just so painfully unoriginal.  I thought that academics were supposed to be more creative than that._

            “Um, yeah actually.  I am supposed to meet Emma at three-fifteen so that we can go home, and I really don’t want to keep her waiting.  Is there something that you need?  Did I mess up on another assignment?”  I asked as I carefully turned back toward Benjamin who was all of a sudden standing just about a foot closer to me than I thought was actually necessary, and who was smiling brightly toward me like some sort of quite pleased serial killer looking down over his latest kill.  _That statement was honestly not an over exaggeration.  Benjamin really was that creepy._

            “Oh no, nothing like that.  Professor Hiddleston actually seems to be quite pleased with the work that you have been doing lately, and of course you know that he never lets me grade anything anyway.  What I wanted to talk to you about was what you are doing later on tonight.  Emily and I are meeting at the library so that she can finish up the paper that the two of you have due tomorrow, and I was wondering if you wanted to join us.  That is, of course, if you haven’t already finished the assignment.”  He asked as he took a much unneeded step closer toward me, and then widened his smile even further than it had been before.  _I just really didn’t enjoy how this guy looked at me.  It was just too…suggestive for my liking._   

            “Um…well, I still have to put a few finishing touches on it, but I don’t know if I really feel like going out tonight.  The weekend was kind of tiring, and I think that I would rather just finish my work at home.  I appreciate the offer though, Benjamin.”  I said as I forced a smile onto my face, and then once again began pulling the door open slightly further in front of me.  _I really wish that I hadn’t worn heels today.  Sneakers would have made it so much easier to make a quick escape in._

            “Come on, Lucy.  I can be of a lot of help when it comes to this class, and my assistance could mean the difference between you getting a C or an A.  I know that you have been struggling a lot with the material ever since the term first started, and I also know that this grade is worth just enough to be able to slightly raise your average.  Come with us to the library tonight, and let me help you with your paper.  I promise, you won’t regret it.”  Benjamin reasoned as he nodded reassuringly toward me, and then smiled brightly in my direction once again.  I sighed as I allowed his words to tumble around inside of my incredibly exhausted head, and then finally I very reluctantly changed my original decision.  _My new decision, I regretted immediately._

            “Okay fine, Benjamin.  What time are you and Emily meeting tonight?”  I asked sounding completely defeated as I began to shift my weight just slightly uneasily where I stood, and also began cursing myself inside of my head for promising my evening to someone that I didn’t even sort of actually like.  _An evening that I would have much rather spent with someone else._

            “We are meeting at six o’clock on the first floor in the reserved study area at the back.  Do you need a ride or anything?”  Benjamin asked now appearing as excited as a child on Christmas morning, and staring back at me with eyes filled with completely creepy devious intention.  _Oh lord, what had I gotten myself into?_

            “No, I can have Emma bring me, but thank you for the offer.  I’d better get going though, Benjamin.  I’ll see you later, and I do appreciate all of your help.”  I said forcing out my last few words as I didn’t want to take the assistance in the only class that I painfully struggled in for granted, but also already feeling sick to my stomach about having to spend an evening with a man who ogled me as if I was a half-naked centerfold model in Playboy.  _And, as Emily very clearly pointed out just about an hour before, I was in no way a fucking model._

“No problem, Lucy.  I look forward to seeing you tonight.”  Benjamin said as if we were now scheduled for an actual official date just as I finally got the door to the lecture hall completely open before me, and then took my first step out into the lining hallway, which I suddenly saw as my golden ticket to delicious freedom.  _Running would have been too dramatic…right?_

            “Um…yeah…me too.  Later, Benjamin.”  I stuttered slightly, and then just as soon as the words finally left my lips, I was gone.  I bolted down the hallway that led to the main front doors of the literature building as fast as my legs would carry me, and then I practically sprinted to the parking lot that housed Emma’s car.  There was no way in hell that I was getting stuck in another conversation with anyone else that I didn’t want to talk to, especially after having somehow agreed to study with Tom’s teaching assistant during my last completely forced exchange.  I needed to get away from campus now, and get back to the safety of my home away from home, where just maybe I could find the time to take a small nap before I eventually would have to return in order to get to the library on time, even though I honestly didn’t want to at all.  Or, I could instead see if Tom was home yet and have him help me with my literature paper, and skip the stupid study date that I had just made all together.  _Yeah, that second option sounded so much better than the first._

            The second that Emma finally pulled into the long paved driveway that led to Tom’s home, my heart immediately fell slightly into a very mild version of depression inside of my chest, and my body began to ache from what my idiotic female hormones believed to be caused by lack of my literature professor’s incredibly skilled touch.  The driveway before me as well as the street that lined Tom’s property were both completely void of cars, and as both Emma and I finally got to the front door just after exhaustedly pulling ourselves from her vehicle, we found the door to be locked up tightly just as we had left it earlier that morning.  My flesh felt painfully irritated from just over my bones as I quickly made my way up to my room just after explaining to Emma that I was going to lay down for a short bit in order to prepare for the long evening that I feared that I had a head of me, and as my body finally found the softness of my bed, I felt my form beginning to desperately yearn for the caress of the man who had so passionately made love to me just the evening before.  I immediately rolled over onto my stomach as I felt frustration quickly taking over my mind, and then I screamed loudly into my pillow as I finally closed my painfully tired eyes.  I just needed sleep, and then I would feel better.  I just needed to rest, and then the urge to even just be near my incredibly seductive literature professor wouldn’t be so strong.  _And, that was what I planned on continuing to tell myself, until it hopefully eventually became true._

            The soft sound of my cell phone buzzing from just above my head suddenly woke me from the incredibly delicious deep sleep that I had quite quickly fallen into, and immediately reminded me that my nap had in fact just only been a nap, and that I was still a good amount of time away from actually enjoying a peaceful night’s rest.  I groaned loudly as I noticed that the sun had almost completely set behind the trees just outside of my partially open bedroom window, and then I cursed under my breath as I noticed that my bedside clock now read five-fifteen.  The small expanse of my cell phone screen remained dimly lit as I finally rolled over onto my side in order to check and see who had so rudely interrupted my quite blissful dreaming, and then I narrowed my still sleep consumed eyes as I attempted to read a text message from someone whose phone number I did not have saved in my contacts.  A few seconds passed by as my brain attempted to jar itself from its dream induced haziness, and then finally, it took in what the mysterious number had sent apparently just less than five minutes before.

            _We will be at the library on the south side of campus just a little before six, love.  I’m bringing coffee, and some pastries to keep us awake.  Can’t wait to see you!  Oh, this is Emily, btw._  I read silently to myself as I stared down at my suddenly painfully bright appearing screen, and then groaned to myself once again just before I mentally attempted to form my reply before I then quickly typed it.  I had forgotten that I had given Emily my cell phone number a few weeks before when we had originally spoke about sometime maybe having a study date. _I really hoped that she had never given it to Benjamin…that would be a fucking nightmare._

            _Thanks, Emily.  I should be there around six or a little after.  See you soon!_ I replied attempting to make my texting tone sound excited, even though there was absolutely nothing excited at all about my current mood.  I honestly just wanted to stay home, and remain in the warmth of my bed.  _Or maybe go jump into the warmth of someone else’s bed, if I was able to get that lucky._

It took about thirty minutes, six curse words, and one incredibly large cup of coffee, but finally by the time that it had reached five forty-five I found myself sitting in the passenger seat of Emma’s car, and moving swiftly back toward campus where I absolutely did not want to be.  My mind ached painfully from inside of my skull as the Tylenol that I had taken a few minutes before obviously had still not yet kicked in, and my thoughts raced at the speed of light as I attempted to figure out exactly where it was that Tom continued to still so mysteriously be even after normal business hours.  I tapped my fingers anxiously against the onyx colored material of my knee length skirt as I bit down slightly on the swell of my full bottom lip, and then I silently reminded myself once again that I needed to get a freaking grip and just simply relax for the evening.  Whatever my literature professor was or wasn’t doing with his time was one hundred percent his business alone, and even though we had mind blowing sex together more than just a few times over the previous weekend, his exact whereabouts were still absolutely none of my concern.  I needed to stop worrying about the man who could have quite possibly just been using me in order to act out some sort of kinky teacher-student fantasy that he had been having ever since he had first become employed at Cambridge, and I instead needed to focus on my literature paper that I had coming due the following afternoon.  _But, seriously.  Where the fuck was he?_

            “Well darling, it is six o’clock sharp and here we are.  The most boring of all the libraries on campus, the English Faculty Library.  A place where Shakespeare is king, and virginity is all too common.”   Emma joked as she finally shifted her car into park just in front of the glass sliding doors that led into the large incredibly aged appearing brick building before me, and then widened her pale blue eyes just as my gaze finally met hers. 

            “Thank you for the ride, Emma.  Would you mind picking me back up again around like nine or ten?  I really don’t want to have to be here any longer than absolutely necessary.”  I said as I sighed heavily, and then smiled warmly in the direction of my friend.  Emily smiled brightly as she immediately nodded, and then very carefully licked her lips.

            “Of course, love.  Just send me a text whenever you are about ready, and then I will be on my way.  I have a lot of studying to do for one of my courses that I have an exam in tomorrow anyway, so I might just pop over to the Business Faculty for a bit, and get some work done as well.  Good luck in there with Benny boy, darling.  If he touches you maybe that will finally give my brother the legitimate reason that he needs in order to be able to sack him like he has always wanted.”  She said with a wink as she nodded back carefully toward the library, and then widened her smile slightly in my direction.  I smiled as I nodded in return, and then allowed a somewhat shaky breath to eventually escape from between my lips.  _Don’t let the mention of Tom distract you, Lucy.  Focus.  Just remember to focus._

            “Thanks.  Um…speaking of your brother.  Have you seen him today?  Benjamin said something about him being in a meeting, which is why he had to take over for him in class, but since it’s so late and I still haven’t seen him…I was just…”  I stuttered incredibly ineloquently as I desperately avoided my friend’s eyes, and then released another very nervous breath that even I knew looked incredibly obvious.  There was a silence in the car around me until I finally lifted my incredibly anxious stare back up toward Emma’s once again, and then I finally locked in completely on her suddenly very pleased appearing gaze.  _Damn it, Lucy.  Why couldn’t you have just remembered to focus?_

            “You were just what, Lucy?”  Emma asked as she narrowed her beautiful eyes toward mine, and then smiled a slightly devious smile in my direction.  I felt my face turn about ten shades of crimson as I desperately searched my brain for any acceptable answers that would not involve the phrase ‘ _because I desperately want to sleep with him again’,_ and then I finally settled on what I prayed would be an at least somewhat believable reply.

            “I was just wondering if he would be around to look at my paper before I actually had to turn it in for grading tomorrow afternoon.  I am really worried about doing well, and I don’t want to fuck this assignment up since it is kind of worth a lot.”  I quickly sputtered out as I pulled my knap sack up from the floor of Emma’s front seat, and then began shifting myself slightly closer toward the passenger side door that now appeared to be a very pleasing escape.  Emma nodded slowly as she seemed to very carefully watch me nervously move before her, and then she licked her slightly overly glossed lips slowly before she spoke once again.

            “I’m sure you will do fine, Lucy, but yes Tom should be home in about another hour or so.  The English Faculty Board had meetings all day today that he apparently got a call about really early this morning, and since it was so early, he hadn’t exactly had enough time to make up a good excuse as to why he couldn’t be there.  He mentioned it briefly when he so rudely woke me up this morning just before he left.”  She answered as her eyes remained tightly fixed on mine as I finally began pushing open my door, and also silently began praying that this conversation would soon be over so that I didn’t say anything that would incriminate myself any further.  _Good luck with that one, Lucy.  Good freaking luck._

            “Oh, okay.  Well, it’s no big deal, I just want to make sure that I do as well as I can.  Thanks for the ride, Emma.  I will text you as soon as I am finished or as soon as Benjamin becomes too much to handle.  Whichever one comes first.”  I said with an overly enthusiastic smile that I was quite certain that Emma knew was absolutely fake as I stepped one of my feet outside of her car, and then suddenly felt my friend’s hand wrap gently around my wrist just before I had completed my escape.  _Damn, I had been so close._

            “Lucy, wait.  Can I ask you something before you go?”  Emma asked as I very slowly turned around, and then eventually met eyes with my friend who now had a slightly concerned look on her face.  I swallowed thickly as I unwillingly nodded my head in her direction, and then felt my heart begin to move incredibly quickly inside of my chest.  _Please don’t ask me anything that I cannot give you an honest answer to.  I really don’t want to have to lie to you, Emma._

            “Of course.”  I stuttered out anxiously as I forced a smile onto my just slightly shaking lips, and a confidence into my expression that I honestly did not have.  Emma released a breath, and then smiled warmly toward me, seeming strangely nervous as well.  _Oh, well this didn’t look good._

            “Do you think that I am an idiot for sleeping with Jonathan this weekend?  I mean judging by the fact that we have never worked out any of the other times before?”  She asked completely surprising me and also thankfully relieving me, just before she then tilted her head slightly in my direction.  I sighed as I reached out and gently grabbed my friend’s hand, and then squeezed her fingers tightly against mine as I smiled warmly toward her once again.

            “There is nothing that you could ever do that would make me think that you were an idiot, Emma.  I admire you so much for how you always follow your heart, and if right now your heart is leading you back toward Jonathan, well then I say that you should go with it.  You only have this one life, and if Jonathan makes you happy, well then you should spend as much of it with him as you possibly can.”  I answered as I squeezed Emma’s hand tightly once again, and then slightly widened my smile in her direction.  Emma narrowed her eyes toward me skeptically, and then tilted her head slightly quizzically as she looked at me as if I had just flown in from some unknown planet.

            “That was very strangely poetic, Lucy.  A few months ago you would have told me to think logically about what I was doing, and that I should protect myself so that I don’t get hurt again.  What’s been going on with you the past few days?  You seem…different.”  Emma asked as she studied me intently, and then smiled to herself as if she felt that she was very close to finally figuring me out.  I shrugged my shoulders very nonchalantly as I once again eventually began making my way out of Emma’s car, and then smiled just slightly to myself.  _God, I really hoped that she wasn’t close to figuring anything out._

            “I don’t know, I guess that England just agrees with me.  Thanks for the ride, Emma.  See you later on tonight.”  I said as I finally completely made my way out of my friend’s car, and then waved happily back toward her, just as I closed the door tightly behind me.  Emma smiled and waved in return as I quickly ran in front of her car toward the massive library that stood before me, and then eventually she drove off toward the other side of campus just as soon as I took my very first step inside.  My heart pounded roughly inside of my chest as I finally made my way into the expansive building that housed all of the books belonging to the English Faculty, and then I released an incredibly anxious breath from between my lips just as I finally stepped into the slightly drafty main entryway hall.  _Oh Emma, if you only knew the real reason why I suddenly felt so incredibly different._

I had been sitting at a small slightly rounded table in the back of the library’s first floor for just short of two hours before Tom’s idiotic teaching assistant finally started to become too much for me to bear, and as I stared down at my literature paper that was still in such desperate need of editing, I knew that there was no foreseeable escape from my evening (or said teaching assistant) yet in sight.  Emily sat just to my right hand side proudly reading the same portion of her essay aloud that she believed would finally get her the ‘A’ that she so obviously deserved, and Benjamin sat to my left hand side very unsubtly staring down into the neckline of my shirt.  I rolled my eyes as unnoticeably as I possibly could as I shifted my body just slightly toward the other side of the room in order to in anyway hinder his disgusting view, but no matter what I did, Benjamin always seemed to somehow find a way to very obviously ogle me in my entirety.  Finally, after twenty more minutes of staring down at my paper that was honestly now beginning to make absolutely no sense to me at all and also at the same time attempting to get the creepy man sitting next to me to stop visually harassing me, I had eventually had enough of the seemingly endless day that still did not yet lay behind me.  I dropped my paper down onto the incredibly worn wooden table top surface that lay out beneath my scattered mess of literature papers, and then I groaned loudly under my breath just as I quickly covered my eyes slightly childishly with my hands.  _Why wouldn’t this day just fucking end already?_

“That’s it.  I give up.  This paper is what it is, and if Professor Hiddleston wants to fail me, then I guess he just wants to fail me.”  I whined as I then eventually dropped my head all the way down onto my paper that lay beneath me, and unnecessarily groaned under my breath even more loudly than I had before.  I heard Emily chuckle lightly to herself from my side as I felt her reach out and gently pat the top of my hand, and then I also quickly felt Benjamin move closer toward me just before he reached out and gently touched the exposed flesh that covered my forearm.  _Oh, please don’t touch me, Benjamin._

            “Now, now.  Let’s not be dramatic, Miss America.  Let’s just read over it again, and see what you think that you need to change.  This third paragraph here.  Do you think that you are explaining your views on Hermia’s character descriptively enough or do you think that you could possibly add something to what you have already written?”  Benjamin asked as he slid my paper carefully out from beneath my head, and then cleared his throat slightly, leaving his hand unnecessary on top of my arm.  _Benjamin, it is time to move your fucking hand and never ever touch me again._

            “Fuck the third paragraph.  Fuck all the paragraphs.  This class is torture.”  I moaned as I allowed myself a few more seconds with my eyes blissfully closed against the slightly chilled wooden surface of the table beneath me, and then I finally very slowly once again lifted my head.  The second that I cleared my vision and focused my gaze ahead of me in the direction of my only seeable escape, I immediately forgot all about my literature assignment, and in turn also nearly swallowed my tongue at what (or should quite rightly say _who_ ) I suddenly saw just a short distance before me.  _Oh…holy fucking shit._

            There, standing just about fifty feet in front of me leaning against the side of the librarian’s large oak finished desk and obviously finding a great deal of humor in my incredibly juvenile whining, stood the man who I had been desperately searching for nearly the entire day, and who I had feared that I would have to wait until much later in the evening to actually finally be able to see.  My heart began to pound wildly inside of my chest as I carefully met eyes with my literature professor who appeared to be mindlessly chatting with the woman sitting behind the main check-out desk, and who was smiling back at me with the most entrancing smile that I had ever before seen.  My breathing immediately became nearly impossible as I took in the long lean form of the man standing before me dressed in a pair of black suit pants and a crisp deep navy colored button down shirt, and my blood began to move deliciously quickly through my veins as I noticed how tightly tailored his clothing truly was.  I licked my suddenly dry feeling lips almost instinctively as I immediately felt a hunger move over me that I hadn’t felt in its entirety since the evening before, and then I finally ripped my eyes almost forcefully away from my literature professor’s completely addictive seeming body, just as I heard someone else once again saying my name. 

            “Come on, Lucy, you can do this.  Read what you wrote, and then tell me if you think that it explains everything that you are trying to say.  Professor Hiddleston is very keen on the details, love.  You need to make sure that they make sense, and that there are a bloody lot of them.”  Benjamin continued as he obviously hadn’t yet looked in the direction that I was still so obviously staring, and then he tightened his grip very unnecessarily on my arm.  _Eww, please get your disgusting hands away from me._

“Um…I think…”  I started to say as I once again moved my eyes back toward Tom who I suddenly noticed was no longer smiling as he stared still quite intently back in my direction, but who was instead now practically glaring down toward where his teaching assistant’s hand was still very firmly planted on my arm.  I swallowed thickly as I saw a strange look in my literature professor’s eyes that I had never before seen since I had met him, and then I unsuccessfully attempted to clear my suddenly painfully dry feeling throat.  _Wait, was he mad?  No, he couldn’t be mad…could he?_

            “Do you think that you need more description of Hermia’s feelings regarding her father’s disapproval of her relationship with Lysander?  Because honestly, that is most likely what you should be thinking.”  Benjamin said with a small laugh as he carefully began rubbing my arm incredibly lightly, and then released a slightly strange sounding breath from between his somewhat chapped appearing lips.  My stomach immediately began to churn as I suddenly realized that the man sitting beside me was enjoying what he was doing just a little too much for my liking, and the incredibly unpleasant feeling finally caused me to finally pull my arm very quickly away from his.  _Enough was just enough already.  I was done being nice._

“Um…yes, I do think that I need more description.  I also…”  I began once again just as I noticed Tom finally lower his intense stare very carefully away from mine, and then eventually push himself back away from the desk in which he had been standing.  I kept my eyes firmly planted on my literature professor as I watched him very casually begin moving toward the north side of the expansive building’s incredibly drafty first floor, and then quite deliberately turn his eyes very slowly back toward mine.  Tom ran his tongue incredibly carefully over the small swell of his bottom lip as he nodded just slightly in the direction that he was now more swiftly walking, and then he pushed his hands into his suit pants pockets just before he picked up in his once leisurely pace yet again.  _Do not follow him, Lucy.  Whatever you do, do not follow him._

“You also what, Lucy?  Want to add your thoughts on Helena’s role in attempting to destroy three separate lives just out of sheer jealousy?”  Benjamin asked sounding strangely bitter toward the completely fictional female character as he shifted himself slightly closer toward my body, and in turn caused me to quickly move back in the opposite direction. 

            “No, I don’t want to add that, Benjamin.  But, I do think that I want to go…to the bathroom.  Yeah, I’m going to go to the bathroom really quick, and then I will be right back.”  I stuttered slightly uneasily just as I watched my literature professor finally disappear behind a large bookcase just at the edge of a hallway that he was now quite quickly moving into, and then I also noticed Emily finally look up from her incredibly diligent work just before she began to eventually once again speak.

            “Do you want me to go with you, love?  Are you alright?”  She asked sounding slightly concerned as I finally turned my eyes toward hers just as I quickly stood up, and then began very swiftly shaking my head in her direction.  _No Emily, I absolutely do not want you to come with me._

            “No, I’ll be fine, don’t worry.  I think I just need a minute to breathe.  I won’t be long.”  I said as I smiled down toward my friend reassuringly, and then very anxiously moved past Benjamin just as I began making my way toward the section of bookcases that I had watched Tom disappear behind only a few moments before.  _I knew that I was being foolish, but I was far past just simply desperate to see him, so I honestly no longer even cared how incredibly idiotic I was acting._

            “Don’t breathe for too long, Lucy.  Shakespeare waits for no one.”  Benjamin quipped lamely as he winked strangely in my direction just as I moved passed him, and then turned his eyes back down toward the jumbled mess of writing that was my literature paper’s incredibly rough draft.  I rolled my eyes to myself as I began moving even more quickly in the direction that my literature professor had silently summoned me toward only a few moments before, and then I waved back toward the two people remaining at my table slightly mindlessly with one of my hands.

“I’ll be quick, I promise.”  I called back in a somewhat hushed tone since I was actually aware of the fact that I was still inside of a library, and then I very idiotically moved in the direction toward where Tom had directed me.  _What was wrong with me?  I very clearly understood how incredibly stupid this truly was._

            The long hallway that I was just about eighty percent certain that my literature professor had originally disappeared down just a few moments before was very long and slightly more dimly lit than the library itself, and it eventually led to a very narrow cement carved staircase that sat just at its slightly abrupt appearing end.  The heavy scent of dust mixed with leather hung heavy in the air around me as I very hesitantly took my first step in descending down the slightly cryptic appearing stairs before me, and the air became much cooler than it had been on the first floor as I continued anxiously moving.  My heart began to race almost painfully fast inside of my chest as I very slowly eventually made my way down to what appeared to be the library’s lowest level, and then I immediately noticed a door to my left hand side standing just slightly open.  I swallowed thickly as I took a few steps closer toward one of the only three rooms that I could clearly see laid out before me, and then I peered into what appeared to be a very aged (and also very rarely used) reference center.  After taking another few steps further into the room that both looked and smelled as if it had not been occupied in the past twenty years, I finally lifted my view to find Tom leaning very quietly against a bookcase just a few feet in front of me off to my right hand side.  My pulse began to throb from deep inside of my veins as my skin burned blissfully just over my flesh, and then for some strange reason, I very carefully closed the reference room door behind me just after I had completely made my way inside.    _Lucy, you are being an idiot.  You have to know that you are being an idiot._

            “Hello, Miss Taylor.”  Tom said in an incredibly sexy deep tone of voice as I continued moving very slowly closer toward where he stood before me as if I was being pulled by some sort of magnetic force, and also silently reminded myself that I really needed to keep my mind about me in my current slightly nerve wrecking situation.  _You are in a library, Lucy.  Please God, just try to remember that you are in a library._

           “Hello, Professor.”  I said in a slightly throaty sounding voice that I honestly didn’t even recognize as I finally settled just about a foot in front of where Tom stood, and then released a slightly shaky breath from between my full suddenly starved feeling lips.  _Sweet Jesus, my mouth was already watering._

           “Would you care to come have a seat, and tell me about your day?”  Tom asked as he motioned over toward a table that I saw sitting just at the back of the small room, and then he ran his tongue very carefully over his lips as he continued to stare hungrily in my direction.  I swallowed thickly as I shrugged my shoulders in a very forced uninterested sort of fashion, and then began fidgeting just slightly where I stood.

            “Um…sure.  Lead the way.”  I said on a slightly broken breath as I watched Tom very carefully turn in the opposite direction, and then begin walking toward the table that he had motioned toward only a few moments before.  My breathing immediately became labored from deep inside of my lungs as I followed my literature professor to the back of the far too dimly lit room, and my heart pounded so furiously against the delicate walls of my chest, that I feared that it might possibly be attempting to break free.  Finally, when we reached the table that Tom eventually just leaned back slightly against instead of sitting down in front of, I took in a very careful breath and then planted my feet firmly where it was that I stood.  Tom smiled as he watched me intently, and then he tilted his head slightly in my direction before he finally spoke once again.

            “You don’t want to sit down, Lucy?”  He asked as my name rolled off his tongue far sweeter than even that of honey, and then he motioned toward the chair sitting just to his left hand side.  I swallowed thickly once again as I slowly shook my head, and then forced a hopefully confident appearing smile onto my lips before I finally answered him.  _Stay strong, Lucy.  Just remember to stay strong._

            “No, I’ve been sitting most of the day.  I think I’ll just stand.  How were your meetings?”  I asked quickly attempting to lighten the mood that suddenly felt intensely heavy around me as I once again began anxiously fidgeting where I stood, and also began just slightly nibbling at the flesh of my full bottom lip.  Tom smiled as he watched me carefully just before situating himself slightly more comfortably in front of the table that he very casually leaned against, and then he shrugged his broad shoulders in my direction just before he once again responded to me.  

            “They were hopelessly boring, and incredibly tedious.  How were your classes?”  He asked as his eyes moved very slowly over my form, and then finally settled just at my mouth before he then incredibly purposefully ran his tongue once again over his lips.  My heart sped up to an almost painful speed inside of my chest as I felt my clit immediately become slick from just between my thighs, and my flesh begin to ache desperately for the man standing before me to finally touch me once again.  _You are in a library, Lucy.  Get it together._

            “About the same.  I got an A on an Ethics exam that I had been slightly worried about taking, so that was good, I guess.”  I stuttered slightly as even I knew that I hadn’t at all been worried in the slightest about my above mentioned exam, but had mentioned it in hopes that the topic of conversation would keep my mind off of the fact that my body felt as if it was screaming for the man standing before me, who was staring back at me with an incredibly seductive look radiating from his ocean colored eyes. 

            “Mmm, good girl, Miss Taylor.  And, how did you enjoy literature class today?”  Tom asked as I watched his fingers curl tightly around the edge of the table, and then his forearms slightly flex as he appeared to apply a great amount of pressure to his grip.  I swallowed thickly finding the movement strangely erotic, and then once again forced my gaze back up toward Tom’s.  _God, I would have killed for him to just stop talking and finally touch me._

            “It was…interesting.  You would be happy to know that nearly every girl in your class was desperate to know where you were, and then they quite literally nearly all fell apart when they realized that you weren’t actually coming.”  I stuttered strangely as I immediately regretted my words, and then swallowed thickly feeling a lump quickly form deep inside of my throat.  _Why the hell had I just said that?  What the fuck was wrong with me?_

            “And, were you desperate to know where I was, Miss Taylor?”  Tom asked as he tilted his head even closer toward mine, and then narrowed his eyes just slightly as he continued to intently stare at me.  I swallowed thickly as I shrugged my shoulders attempting to at least somewhat feign indifference, and then I cleared my throat gently before I finally began to speak.

            “Um…Benjamin told us where you were.  He said that you were in meetings with the English Faculty Board, and then he just kind of moved along with teaching.  He isn’t quite the intense lecturer that you are, but we all managed.”  I stuttered just as I watched Tom very slowly push himself away from the table that he had been leaning against, and then begin to take a few very deliberate steps in my direction.  _Oh shit…_

            “That really doesn’t answer my question, darling.  I would like to know if you were desperate to know where I was today, and if I just happened to occupy your mind slightly more than you are used to.”  Tom practically purred as he finally very swiftly neared my body, causing me to take a few very quick steps back, and then subsequently run into the bookcase behind me.  _This was most likely not good._

“Um…I was…curious to know where you were when you didn’t show up to class, but then Benjamin took care of that curiosity when he told us about your meetings.  And, yes I thought about you today… _a little_.  I mean a lot happened this weekend.”  I stuttered out, once again immediately regretting my words, and wishing that I had thought about them more before I had allowed them to so impetuously leave my lips.  Tom nodded as he finally settled just a few millimeters in front of my body, and then carefully touched his hand to the side of my incredibly tensely held face.  Fire immediately shot through my veins as I felt him then very gently sweep a few strands of stray hair behind my ear, and carefully eventually lower his eyes down toward mine.  _God, I wanted him._

            “Yes, it did.  Is that what you thought about when I happened to drift through your mind today, Lucy?  What happened this weekend?”  He asked as two of his fingers very carefully trailed down the side of my face, and then traced the outline of my jaw incredibly meticulously.  I released a very heavy breath as I felt my chest beginning to just slightly heave, and my fingers beginning to tremble just lightly at my sides.  _Why was I already getting so excited?_

            “Mmm-hmm.”  I said as I bit down carefully on my bottom lip just as Tom’s fingers began caressing down the length of my neck, and then stopped just as they finally reached the deep ridge of my collarbone.  _He had barely touched me, and I was already far past just simply turned on._

            “Did it make you feel good to think about how I touched you yesterday, and the night before?”  Tom asked in a very low whisper just as his hand very slowly snaked around to the back of my neck, and his fingers began gently massaging the base of my scalp.

            “Actually, it quite literally hurt to think about.”  I answered honestly in an incredibly breathy tone of voice just as my eyes dropped down to Tom’s mouth, and I licked my incredibly hungry feeling lips almost instinctively at the sight.  Tom tilted his head slightly closer toward mine, and then he ran his nose very gently against mine.  _Oh sweet Jesus, I was going to explode._

            “Why is that, darling?”  He asked thickly as he brushed his lips gently against mine, and immediately caused my core to become almost completely drenched in my own desire from just beneath my panties.  I swallowed thickly as I leaned just slightly forward and groaned quietly just as Tom’s lips once again ran across mine, and then I forced myself to pull my head back to rest against the bookshelf behind me.  _Library, Lucy.  You are in a library._

            “Because you weren’t there to actually touch me.  It felt like fucking torture.”  I breathed just as Tom once again brought his face slightly closer toward mine, and then smiled a very seductive smile in my direction.

            “Well, I’m here now.”  He whispered, and then just after the words had finally left his incredibly tortuous lips, Tom crushed his mouth down roughly against mine, and immediately scorched me with an almost painfully intense kiss.  I whimpered quietly against his strong jaw as I opened my mouth hungrily just as I felt his tongue pressing roughly against my teeth, and then I groaned low inside of my throat as he began massaging the delicious wetness of his tongue passionately against mine.

            “We can’t do this here, Tom.  We are in a library.”  I practically panted the second that Tom’s lips finally released mine, and his hands began moving desperately over the curves of my body.  Tom groaned as his fingertips moved hungrily over my breasts that my incredibly thin shirt so unfortunately still covered, and in turn caused a groan to also escape from my lips as well.  _I needed him.  God, I fucking needed him._

            “All day you fucking tortured me, Lucy.  Do you know how hard it is to pay attention to an eighty year old man prattling on about a completely idiotic fundraiser that I honestly care nothing about, when the only thing that I can think about is how fucking good it feels when you are pressed up against me?”  He asked breathlessly just before his lips once again met mine, and his hands began greedily caressing my breasts, immediately once again pulling moans from deep inside of my throat.  _He felt so good._

            “God, I thought about you too.  About what it feels like when you touch me or when you’re…inside me.”  I groaned just as Tom’s mouth finally dropped away from mine, and then began kissing deeply down the side of my neck.  _I wanted him so badly, it hurt._

            “Mmm…did I make you wet, darling?”  He asked just as he pulled back momentarily from my neck, and then began sucking hungrily down toward my still quite heavily heaving chest.  I shivered as I bit down even harder on my bottom lip.

            “God, yes.  But, we can’t do this here.  We are in public, Tom.  We are going to get caught.”  I reasoned breathlessly as I remembered the promise that Tom and I had made the evening before when we had said that we would be more careful, and then I moaned once again just as Tom’s hands seductively squeezed my suddenly aching breasts.

            “We are in the reference room, Lucy.  No one has been down here since the internet was created, and there is only one librarian in the entire building, and she is very contently reading a book that I just happened to suggest to her.  We are absolutely fine.”  He whispered against my skin just as he pulled my shirt down roughly over my shoulder, and then began biting at my flesh, causing me to groan as I so blissfully endured it.  _I never wanted him to stop…_

            “But…what about…cameras?”  I questioned as my eyes briefly fell closed just as Tom began moving down closer toward my chest, and then swiftly pulled my shirt even further down, immediately exposing one of my breasts to him.  _We needed to stop.  I knew that we needed to stop._

            “We are in a library, not a bank, Lucy.  They really don’t have much use for cameras here.  All of the books are free.”  He said softly with a smile as he finally looked up into my incredibly nervous emerald colored eyes, and then very slowly closed his lips around the already quite tautly pebbled nipple of my left breast, while keeping his gaze firmly locked in on mine.  I whimpered as I felt my knees immediately begin to shake, and my heart begin to once again pick up in its rampant speed inside of my chest.

            “Tom…we…we can’t.”  I whispered as I kept my eyes intently locked in on Tom’s, and then watched as he slid one of his hands very slowly down over the swell of one of my hips.  I swallowed thickly as I felt him then quickly lift up the bottom of my skirt, and then move his fingers very carefully up the inside of my now quite violently trembling thigh.

            “Do you want me to stop, Lucy?  Just tell me to stop, and I promise you that I will.”  Tom said as he stared hungrily into my eyes, and then very slowly slid his fingertips over the now almost completely drenched material of my pale pink cotton panties.  I whimpered as I felt the deliciously painful ache that always seemed to accompany Tom’s tortuous touch return to my center, and then I carefully licked my lips before I finally once again spoke.

            “No, I just don’t want us to get…caught.  We could both get into a lot of trouble.”  I whispered breathlessly just as Tom began to rub small circles over the dampened material of my panties, and also began to once again bite gently at the side of my neck.

            “Mmm…yes we could, darling.  What would the Dean of the English Department think if he found out that instead of helping one of my students with her coursework, I was instead helping her cum harder than she ever has before in her entire life?”  Tom asked he slightly increased the speed of his movements, and in turn caused my clit to become painfully swollen with my now suddenly desperate feeling need.

            “Oh god, I think that he would be mad…so fucking mad.  He would think that you were a very _very_ bad professor.”  I groaned as I found myself quickly becoming lost in the allure of the incredibly dangerous moment, and idiotically forgetting the true risk that Tom and I were so readily putting ourselves at.          

            “Yes, he would think that I was bad, now wouldn’t he?  But, what would he think about you, Lucy?  What would he think about a beautiful young girl who was so deviously sleeping with one of her professors?  Do you think that he would believe that you were fucking me just to get a better grade?”  Tom asked as he finally moved his mouth back over my lips, and then pushed his fingers just beneath the material of my underwear, finally making contact with my completely drenched desperate feeling skin.  _His expression appeared quite obviously pleased with himself the second that he touched me._

            “He could think whatever he wants to think.  I don’t give a…fuck…about my grade.  You could fail me if you wanted to.  I just want you.”  I moaned as I licked my lips just as Tom’s middle finger began very slowly caressing my clit, and his index finger began tapping just above my incredibly sensitive bundle of nerves.  _How did he know how to touch me like this?_

            “Mmm…is that so?  You just want me, do you?  Well, what do you want me for, Miss Taylor?  To bend you over and fuck you until you can’t walk in the basement of a library while we pray that nobody sees us?  Or would you rather that I take a little bit more time with you?  Maybe make you cum in my mouth before I make you cum on my dick?”  He asked incredibly seductively as he panted hungrily against my lips, and then began once again speeding up his movements against my wet skin.  _For a man who was considered to be so incredibly refined and well educated, Tom sure had one hell of a mouth on him._

“I…we shouldn’t…”  I whimpered as I found myself completely at a loss for what to say, and then heard myself almost cry out when I felt Tom’s hand very suddenly pull away.  _No, please don’t stop._

            “No darling, we most likely shouldn’t.  But, I have been thinking about getting my tongue under that skirt of yours since first thing this morning, and I am growing quite tired of simply just thinking.  Now, be a good girl and open those delicious thighs for your professor.  Oh, and also please at least attempt to keep your voice down.  Once I start, I really don’t want to have to stop.”  He whispered as he very slowly slid down the front of my body, and then eventually very carefully settled down onto his knees.  I swallowed thickly as I took in the almost painfully seductive vision of Tom knelt down before me, and then I felt my legs begin to violently shake just as I watched him very slowly begin to pull my panties down over my thighs.  _I needed to tell him to stop.  I knew that that I needed to tell him to stop._

            “Tom…we…”  I stuttered as I stared down at the incredibly alluring vision of the gorgeous man knelt down before me who had just finally removed my underwear very carefully from off of my heels, and who was now staring up at me with slightly dark lust consumed ocean colored eyes.  _There was no way in hell I was going to be able to tell him to stop…no fucking way._

            “Please show some respect, Miss Taylor.  Call me, Professor.”  Tom said with an incredibly devilish smile as he met my eyes one last time, and then finally slowly dipped his head down toward my painfully aching dripping wet core.  In an instant the world around me suddenly melted away, and consequence was a word that I no longer even somewhat understood. 

            The muscles of my legs violently twitched as I whimpered quietly from behind my lips that I so desperately bit, and my chest heaved as I unsuccessfully attempted to catch my breath.  Tom’s mouth moved hungrily over my clit as he wet my already soaked flesh even more so with the tip of his deliciously skilled tongue, and caused my need for him to become so intense that it quite literally hurt to truly endure.  My blood rushed swiftly through my veins as I watched my literature professor finally pull one of my legs up onto his shoulder, and then move his large hands to each side of my hips, holding me tightly in my place against him.  _His mouth felt so good…_

            “Tom…”  I moaned just as I felt Tom’s tongue move painfully slowly over the entire length of my dripping wet clit, and then flick gently just over my now incredibly sensitive bundle of nerves.  Tom pulled back for just a second as I felt one of his hands move from my hip down to the supple flesh of my ass, and then I felt him gently slap my skin just before then massaging the same spot hungrily in his hand.  _Oh sweet Mother of God…_

            “What did I tell you to call me, Miss Taylor?”  He asked just as I felt my core become even wetter than it had been before as the sting from Tom’s touch continued to linger deliciously on my skin, and then I bit down gently on my bottom lip as I oddly decided to tempt my fate.

            “I…don’t remember.”  I whispered slightly anxiously as I watched Tom very slowly lift his beautiful lust consumed eyes, and then narrow his gaze just slightly in my direction.  No humor invaded his expression as he once again gently slapped his hand against the flesh that covered my backside, and then subsequently pulled a groan from my lips, that in my opinion, did not even sound entirely human.

            “Mmm…what a bad girl you are, Miss Taylor.  You would be in for a deliciously long night if we weren’t in such a public place.  Don’t worry though, I have a very good memory.”  Tom seductively threatened as he stared hungrily back up into my eyes, and then once again finally lowered his head.

            The room around me spun completely out of control, and no matter how desperately I attempted to focus my attention on anything that surrounded me, I couldn’t seem to catch even the simplest semblance of an image in its entirety.  My chest heaved as the man knelt down before me suddenly became much more intense in his lustful actions against me, and my heart pounded roughly beneath my bones as I felt Tom’s mouth quickly beginning to suck at my delicate already overly aroused skin.  A silent moan escaped from my throat as I heard the wet incredibly naughty sound of my literature professor’s tongue continuing to hit my already dripping wet flesh, and then I felt my teeth roughly scrape against the skin of my bottom lip just as I felt the vibrations of yet another of his moans move through nearly every single part of my body.  _Sweet Jesus…_

            “We…need…to stop.”  I moaned just as I felt my hips buck up against Tom’s hungry feeling mouth, and then heard the sound of a pop just as his lips finally released my clit from their almost painfully delicious brand of torture.  I groaned as I finally once again dropped my eyes down to my literature professor who was now rubbing swift circles over my clit with two of his long incredibly skillful fingers, and who was staring up at me with utterly entrancing ocean colored eyes.    _God, I wanted him._

            “Mmm…are you sure, Lucy?  Are you sure that we need to stop?”  Tom asked as his eyes finally completely locked in on mine, and then he ran his tongue slowly over his bottom lip, removing the evidence of my lust nearly completely from his skin.  I swallowed thickly as I felt pulses of deliciously sweet sensation beginning to throb from deep inside of my core, and then I carefully bit down on my bottom lip attempting to keep at least somewhat under control.

            “What if the librarian comes looking for you?  What if Emily comes looking for me?”  I asked suddenly actually realizing that I had in fact been gone for far longer than it would take a normal person to use the bathroom, and briefly also wondering if either one of my study partners were now looking for me.  _That brief moment of question immediately ended, however, when I felt one of Tom’s fingers slide deep inside of me._

            “What if they do?  What if they open that door right now, and see me on my knees in front of you?  What if they see me fucking you with my hand, and licking that sweet pussy of yours with my tongue?  Would you ask me to stop even though you are so close?  Or would you want them to watch you so beautifully finish?”  Tom asked as he began thrusting his finger even faster inside of me, and then began rubbing my clit incredibly skillfully with his thumb.  _Oh…my…God._

“I…I…”  I stuttered as I felt my blood beginning to rush deep down into the center of my already pulsating core, and the muscles of my lower stomach beginning to tighten almost to the point of pain.  Tom stared up at me as he swiftly pushed another finger inside of me, and then carefully added pressure to his thumb.

            “Answer me, Lucy.  Tell me if you would tell your professor to stop or if you would let others watch me.  Would you let them watch me make you cum, Lucy?  Would you?”  Tom questioned in an incredibly sexy demanding tone of voice as he pushed his fingers even deeper inside of me, and then began rubbing my now painfully wet clit so quickly that it made my head spin wildly out of control.  _Oh god, I was so close._

            “Tom…”  I breathed as I began slowly grinding my hips against Tom’s hand, and then dropped my fingertips down into his hair, where I gripped his soft copper colored locks tightly in my hand.  Tom groaned as he pushed into me even deeper, and then growled slightly animalistically from just behind his teeth.  _It was by far the hottest sound that I had ever heard in my entire life.  Hands down._

            “You will call me _Professor_ , Lucy, and you will answer my fucking question.”  He ordered as slid his free hand up the center of my body, and then began tightly massaging my left breast in his incredibly powerful claiming grip.  I ground my teeth together tightly as I felt my release beginning to finally so deliciously wash over me, and words begin to escape from my lips that I had not even knowingly thought before that very moment.

            “Fuck yes, I would let them watch you make me cum.  I would never tell you to stop.  Mmm….please don’t stop, Professor.”  I cried out in a voice that I knew very well I should have most definitely not been using in a library, and then felt my climax swiftly wash over me just as Tom’s mouth once again returned to my clit.

            The room around me felt as if it completely caved in on itself as Tom’s mouth hungrily sucked at my core, and in turn pulled two completely mind ravaging orgasms from me that my body had been completely unprepared for.  I moaned slightly more quietly from behind my clenched teeth just as I finally felt the completely overwhelming waves of pleasure inside of me beginning to die down just after Tom had finally rolled back onto his knees, and the fact that my vision was suddenly so blurry that I could barely completely make out his face, well it told me that my release had been quite intense to say the least.  Tom’s eyes bore hotly into mine as he very slowly straightened himself up to stand, and then just as I could tell that he was about to once again speak to me, I grabbed him roughly by the back of his head.

            “Fuck me…now.”  I ordered in an incredibly desperate sounding voice as I pulled Tom’s lips roughly against mine, and then sucked the mingled taste of my release and his sweet saliva into my mouth, and moaned from the incredibly erotic flavor of it.  My heart pounded and my blood rushed wildly through my veins as hundreds of incredibly dirty thoughts regarding the man who was now so passionately kissing me once again began to ravage my mind, but one thought was much more powerful than that of all of the rest.  _The thought that I just had to get closer to him._

            “Sit back on the table…now.”  Tom said in a slightly shaky tone of voice as I could tell that he was desperately attempting to still keep control of our exchange, and then he turned my body around swiftly, so that I was suddenly standing where he previously had stood only a moment before.  I released a breath as I sat down on the edge of the table just as I had been instructed, and then I pushed myself back until my now violently shaking legs dangled from just over its edge.

            My pulse thundered wildly from deep inside of my veins as I watched Tom very slowly glance over toward the door that still stood closed behind us, and then quickly once again finally return his gaze to mine.  He swallowed thickly as he carefully undid the button of his pants while keeping his eyes intently on me, and then he swiftly also yanked down his zipper just after he had finished.  My heart moved faster inside of my chest in delicious anticipation of what was just about to come, and then a groan escaped from between my lips without my permission as I watched Tom eventually release himself from his pants.  _I swear, every time I saw it, it so blissfully surprised me._

            “Come here.”  Tom said in a slightly more gentle voice just as he took a step forward, moving quickly in between my legs, and then hungrily wrapped his hands around both sides of my hips.  I gasped slightly as he pulled me forward slightly more roughly than I had expected, so that I was nearly balancing on the table’s edge, and then I groaned as I felt the tip of his dick briefly come in contact with my still dripping wet core.  Tom smiled as he licked his lips slowly, and then moved one of his hands down the length of my leg until he reached the side of my knee.

            “You have no idea how much I missed you today, Lucy.”  He groaned as he hooked my leg just around his lower back, and then lined himself up perfectly in front of my entrance.  I swallowed thickly as I stared down at the incredibly seductive vision of Tom’s thick pulsating dick just inches away from my drenched core, and then I released a very shaky breath from between my full lips.

            “I missed you too, Professor.  Please, fuck me.”  I begged in a very desperate sounding voice as Tom began rubbing himself gently against me, and then he groaned from low inside of his throat as the slickness of my desire began to coat the tip of his dick.  I inched my hips forward slightly feeling suddenly consumed with my own lust, and in turn gained a small laugh from Tom, that rumbled out from deep inside of his chest.

            “So eager, Miss Taylor.  Do you think that you can take me hard tonight, rather slow and gentle like I usually give it to you, darling?”  Tom asked in a low seductive voice as he stared deeply into my eyes, and then pushed the head of his dick just gently against the incredibly wet skin of my core.  I swallowed thickly as I quickly nodded my head feeling pulses of pure desire beginning to throb from deep inside of my body, and then I once again pushed my hips forward.

            “Yes, God yes.”  I answered as I bit down gently on my bottom lip as I once again returned my gaze to Tom’s delicious appearing dick, and suddenly I found myself craving it not only deep inside of my core, but also deep inside of my throat.  _God, what had happened to me?_

            “Then look at me, darling.  And also, you might want to find something to hold onto.”  Tom said as I felt two of his fingers slide underneath my chin, and then raise my gaze back up toward his.  I swallowed thickly as I wrapped my fingers tightly around the edge of the table that I just barely sat on, and then I bit back a moan the second that I felt him finally thrust himself deep inside of me.

            My body was on fire, and my heart was moving so fast that I could barely breathe, but the feeling of Tom inside of me was so sweet that I could have honestly cared less about oxygen in that moment.  My nails dug deeply into the wooden table that I so desperately gripped, and my legs violently shook around Tom’s back as I held him as close to me as I could possibly manage.  Moans of pleasure that I attempted to keep quiet forcefully escaped my lips as I watched my literature professor move hungrily against my absolutely starving skin, and evidence of my almost helpless desire dripped down slightly from the softness of my clit onto the wood that lay beneath me.  Tom groaned as he thrust into me harder with nearly every single movement that he made, and then just as I felt the table beneath us beginning to shift slightly under our weight, I felt him wrap one of his hands around the back of my neck and then pull my face even closer toward his lips.

            “You feel…so good.”  Tom groaned against my mouth as he began to move faster against my body, and then shifted his hips slightly in another direction just before once again picking up in his pace.  I gasped as I felt new sensations of pure pleasure beginning to surge up from deep inside of me, and then I groaned as I slid one of my hands up, and mirrored Tom’s action of so tightly holding my head.

            “Please don’t stop.  I thought about you all day.  I tried to stop…but I couldn’t.”  I whimpered in a completely pre-orgasm fueled confession as I ground my hips up higher toward Tom’s, and then ran my tongue very slowly over the small swell of his delicious tasting bottom lip.  _I wanted to taste every single part of him.  Every…single…part._

            “We cannot control ourselves around each other, Lucy.  That is bad.”  Tom groaned as he thrust his hips harder against me, and then kissed my mouth what felt like as hard as he possibly could.  I groaned as I opened my mouth and tasted his tongue as greedily as I possibly could, and then once again nearly cried out the second that he pulled away.

            “I know…I swear I’m trying.”  I reasoned as I prayed that Tom wouldn’t suddenly come to his senses, and stop what he was doing since I found myself so dangerously close to finally reaching my release that I so desperately now craved.  Tom groaned as he dropped his hand down from the back of my head, and then wrapped his arm tightly around my body, and pulled me even closer against his still unfortunately clothes covered frame.  _We were so close, it felt like we weren’t even moving separately._

            “Do you want to stop?  If you want to stop, I need you to tell me now.  Before this goes any further.”  He panted as he finally once again lined his eyes with mine, and then ran his teeth lightly against the side of my jaw.  I groaned as I shook my head quickly, and then wrapped my arm around the back of Tom’s shoulders, pulling him even closer against my body, and his dick even deeper inside of me.  _No matter how close he was…it still didn’t feel close enough._

            “No, I don’t want to stop.  Please, Professor…”  I trailed off just as Tom began grinding our bodies incredibly roughly together, and in turn created a friction between us that caused my mind to immediately swirl.  The time for talking was suddenly done, and the time for going back, also appeared to be done.  _I had a feeling the latter time had been done for far longer than I cared to even imagine._

            Tom’s body moved incredibly roughly against mine, and the only sound that filled the room around us was that of our erratic breathing, and also the squeaking of the incredibly aged table that sat beneath us.  I dropped my head down against my literature professor’s shoulder as I attempted to muffle a scream that I knew was only seconds away from releasing from my lips whether I wanted it to or not, and then I bit down roughly on his flesh as I felt him begin to move even harder inside of me.  My pulse pounded roughly inside of my every delicate vein as I clenched my eyes closed the second that I sensed my orgasm approaching, and then I cried out into the overly heated flesh of the man that so passionately made love to me just as I felt all of the pleasure that he had created inside of me completely overtake my entire system.  _I had never felt release like the kind that Tom gave to me…_

            “Oh fuck, Lucy.  Come for me, fuck.”  Tom moaned just as the muscles of my core clamped down tightly around him, and felt as if they pulled him even deeper inside of me.  I whimpered against Tom’s shoulder as I felt tears forming at the corners of my eyes from the intensity of the suddenly almost painful pleasure erupting uncontrollably from deep inside of me, and then I dug my nails deeply into his shirt covered back.

            “God, fuck…Tom.”  I moaned against him, and just as I dug my fingers slightly deeper into Tom’s shirt, causing the material to audibly tear, I finally felt him let go just as he thrust into me roughly just a few more deliciously pleasurable times.

            “Oh, Lucy.  Shit…”  Tom groaned as he pushed into me so hard that my body jolted backward across the table, and then he filled me with his warm seed as his body began to briefly shake just slightly against mine.  I bit down on my bottom lip as I attempted to slow my breathing just as Tom finally stopped moving, and then I groaned as I eventually felt him very carefully lift his head back up toward mine.

            The silence of the room surrounding me immediately overtook me as I suddenly found myself staring deeply into my literature professor’s beautiful ocean colored eyes, and swiftly coming to the realization that we were in a whole mess of trouble that I feared neither one of us truly completely understood.  We had just had sex in the basement of a library on the very campus that he taught on and that I attended classes on, and we had given absolutely no honest regard to if we actually got caught at all.  Tom slowly lifted one of his hands from my body just before he pushed a strand of sweat soaked hair away from my face as he continued to strangely stare at me, and then both of our heads immediately snapped in the opposite direction just as a very subtle sound moved into the once completely quiet space surrounding us.  I swallowed thickly as my brain immediately recognized what the sound had been that had interrupted my silent contemplation, and what that sound could eventually possibly mean in my life.  The sound had been that of the opening of a nearby door, and the meaning of it, had been that Tom and I just might now quite literally be screwed. 


	12. Chapter 12

_O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;_

_It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock_

_The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss,_

_Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger:_

_But O, what damnèd minutes tells he o'er_

_Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!_

_-Othello_

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The quaint space of the slightly darkened reference room was almost eerily quiet around me as I stood pressed tightly up against the room’s farthest facing wall, and desperately attempting to somehow get my frantically fearful breathing at least somewhat under control.  The tall slender frame of my literature professor was pressed firmly against my trembling form as he held one of his long fingers very gently against my soft full lips, and the scent of his skin so close to mine after our most recent intimate encounter, well it was almost impossible to bear.  I kept my anxious emerald eyes glued to the entrancing stare of the man towering above me as we silently waited for whoever it was that had opened the door only moments before to finally reveal their true identity, and then finally after a few more seemingly endless moments of almost deafening silence, the mystery visitor finally decided to speak.  

“Tom?”  I heard a woman with a soft incredibly sultry sounding voice call from the other side of the room just as I watched the man above me very slowly close his beautiful ocean colored eyes, and then tighten his jaw to the point of what appeared to be quite intense pain.

“Tom, I know that you are down here, love.  Why don’t you stop playing games, and come out and have a chat with me for a bit.  We both know that I am not leaving until you do.”  The woman continued as I heard the sharp click of expensive sounding heels collide with the floor beneath them, and then the soft chuckle of said woman follow immediately after her incredibly elusive words had been spoken.  

“Sit tight, darling.  I’m going to go take care of this. I will be right back.”  Tom whispered very softly against my cheek as he finally opened his suddenly exhausted appearing eyes, and then took a very  small step back away from my body.  My heart began to flutter from deep inside of my chest as my nerves practically lit on fire from just beneath my skin at the thought of Tom and I possibly being so unnecessarily discovered, and my brain immediately began screaming at me that there was very big trouble not too far ahead. _This is bad, Lucy.  This is very very bad._

“But…”  I began to whisper just as Tom then turned quickly toward the center aisle that led back to the only entrance to the small room, but then I hesitantly decided to hold my tongue, as I realized that my protest would most likely do me absolutely no good anyway.

The silence around me was suddenly almost palpable as the only sound that I could clearly hear was that of Tom’s dress shoes hitting the incredibly worn floorboards just beneath his feet, and also the voice of reason inside of my head that screamed at me to simply just turn around and run.  My heartbeat pounded from deep inside of my veins as a million horrible outcomes to the scenario unfolding around me began to run rampant throughout my mind, and my fingers shook at my sides as I couldn’t help but wonder who exactly the sultry voiced woman on the other side of the room truly was.  The seconds ticked by as if they were hours as I waited for the two people now on the other side of the room to finally speak to one another so that I could at least get a few answers to the questions that suddenly now burned so wildly inside of my mind, and finally after what felt like an eternity, they finally did.

“Well hello, Professor.  I see that you still enjoy the library just as much as you used to.  Tell me, is it the quiet atmosphere that you find so alluring or is it all the dark little corners in which you can retreat to that entices you the most?”  I suddenly heard the unknown woman ask just as I finally allowed myself to spin slowly around on my heels, and then narrow my eyes tightly, in attempt to peer over the books on the shelf sitting before me in order to gain a better view.  I couldn’t see everything, but I could definitely see that this woman needed at least one extra layer of clothing than she was currently wearing.

“What are you doing here, Rachel?  I thought that you were headed back to the city after the meetings ended?”  Tom asked in a very dry tone of voice as I watched him push his strong hands deep into his pockets, and then relax back slightly on his heels.  I swallowed thickly as I felt my heart pick up speed once again inside of my chest in pure uncontrollable anxiety, and my stomach begin to twist tightly into quite painful knots.  

“I thought about going home, but my flat just seemed so empty after being able to be with you all day.  It’s been a long time, Tom.”  The woman answered as I watched her take a step closer toward my literature professor in her far too tight pencil skirt, and in turn, cause Tom to straighten up his posture just slightly.   _Oh, I didn’t like this.  I didn’t like this one little bit._

“Not nearly long enough, _darling_.”Tom quickly responded in a tone of voice that was laced with an almost painful level of sarcasm as I watched him shift his weight slightly uneasily once again, and then run one of his large hands through his now very messy copper colored hair.  The woman laughed low in her throat once again, and then she pushed her dark chestnut colored hair carefully away from her pristinely made up face.

“Oh come now, don’t be like that.  We both know that you don’t hate me near as much as you pretend to.  I saw the way that you looked at me while Edwin was prattling on about the fundraiser budget.  You miss me, Tom.  You miss me and you know it.”  She said just before my heart sank deep into the knots that now made up the entirety of my stomach, and I felt a painfully thick lump form just at the center of my now uncomfortably dry throat.

“I will be any way that I please, Rachel.  If I looked at you in any manner today whatsoever, it was strictly a professional one.  Also, and I cannot stress this fact enough, I most certainly do not miss you.”  Tom retorted in the same dry tone of voice that he had used ever since he had begun speaking to the horrible woman standing in front of him, and then once again started messing with his now completely disheveled hair.   _Was he nervous?  Was Professor Hiddleston actually nervous?!_

“Well, that is a shame, Professor.  I just so happened to have a room at the Quay West just about fifteen minutes away, and I was hoping that you would not make me go to it alone.  I seem to remember our last stay there being very...memorable.”  Rachel said in a very suggestive tone of voice just as my heart managed to somehow drop even lower into my stomach, and my blood began to boil even more wildly from inside of my veins.  There was another silence as I waited for Tom to suddenly confess his undying love for the mystery woman that was now shamelessly propositioning him and then take her right there on the nearby table just as he had me only moments before, but instead the silence surrounding me relentlessly continued.

“Memorable is one word for it, I suppose. “  Tom finally responded as I watched him cross his arms very tightly across his chest, and continue staring daggers at the woman standing before him.  Rachel smiled seductively as I watched her very slowly run her tongue over her crimson painted bottom lip, and then much to my dismay, take three very elegant steps closer toward where my literature professor stood.  I felt my heart begin to throb painfully hard against my ribcage as I watched her finally settle just a few inches away from Tom’s face, and then run one of her fingers very slowly over her lip just as her tongue so recently had. _I did not like where this was going.  Not one little bit._

“I can think of a few more adjectives that I think we both could agree would be far more suitable, Professor.  A few that just might remind you of exactly how much you truly do miss me.”  Rachel said in a very low throaty tone of voice as I watched her drop her hand down to the front of Tom’s dress shirt, and then drag one of her perfectly manicured fingernails very slowly down the length of it.  The lump in my throat grew even larger than before as I felt the knots in my stomach immediately drive me to the point of absolute nausea, and my fingers begin to shake so hard against my sides that I felt as if I might have actually been having some sort of mild seizure.

“I think it's time for you to go, Rachel.  Your hotel is a bit of a drive from campus, and it is already very late.  I would hate to think of you wandering around alone in the dark like this.”  Tom said in a slightly annoyed, but still somehow considerate sounding voice as I watched him take a very small step back, and further distance himself from the touch of the woman standing before him.   _You might want to take another step back, Professor.  You know...just to be safe._

“Well, you wouldn’t have to think of me being alone in the dark if you would come with me instead.  We don’t have to make this a big deal, darling.  We could just...catch up.”  Rachel shamelessly propositioned once again as she took yet another completely unnecessary step closer toward Tom, immediately closing the distance between them that he had so recently created.

“Please don’t take this the wrong way, but Rachel darling, you are absolutely the last person on this planet that I would ever want to spend my time catching up with.  Now, if you would please excuse me, I have some research to get back to for a lecture that I am expected to give tomorrow, and I would much rather attend to it than continue talking to you.”  Tom said in a very dry angry tone that sent a chill through me, and temporarily restored my brain to its usual functioning.   _See, everything is going to be fine, Lucy.  He is telling her to leave._

It was then, just after I felt myself finally beginning to at least somewhat breathe comfortably once again in my hiding spot behind the bookcase, that one of the worst things that could have possibly happened, actually did.  As I stood attempting to slow the blood that still rushed so painfully fast through my completely overworked veins, that I suddenly found myself watching in silence as Rachel took yet another very unnecessary step forward, and then leaned up just slightly toward Tom.  I watched as she closed her deep walnut colored eyes just as she slowly parted her perfectly painted crimson lips, and then I continued to watch as she then very hungrily molded her mouth to his.  My heart went from a wild roar to barely beating inside of my chest as I continued almost unwillingly watching the horrific scene that was unfolding before me, and my breathing quite literally nearly stopped flowing from within my suddenly burning lungs.  I swallowed thickly as a sick feeling settled somewhere between the knots inside of my stomach, and I desperately fought against a very foreign feeling of rage that immediately caused my hands to ball into shaking fists at my sides.   _Get yourself together, Lucy._

“Good night, Rachel.”  Tom finally said just as the woman before him finally pulled back away from his lips, and then he took a small step back once again in my direction.  Rachel’s once self-assured smile very slowly faded from her face as she seemed to intently study the man standing before her, and then after a few very quiet moments, she smoothed her shoulder length dark hair very carefully away from her face.

“Who is she?”  She asked suddenly, completely ignoring Tom’s last few words, and immediately causing me to idiotically feel hopeful once again.  I didn’t know what I wanted him to say, but I desperately wanted him to say something...anything to make the completely unnecessary feelings inside of me go away.

“We have been through this before, Rachel.  I don’t have to be sleeping with someone else in order to not want to sleep with you.  Now, if you'll please excuse me, I believe you were about to tell me good night.”  Tom replied sternly as I saw him very challengingly stare back at the woman in front of him, and after a few moments of hesitation, Rachel finally appeared to give up in her fight.

“Good night, Tom.  I truly hope that this one is worth it, but unfortunately love, I must admit I have my doubts.  You have never looked at another woman the way that you looked at me, and deep down, I think that we both know you never honestly will.”  She said very egotistically as she then  slowly nodded, and eventually turned on her heels, just before finally (and thankfully) taking her leave from the room.   _I felt like I was going to be sick._

Silence once again completely engulfed the room around me as I very slowly finally stepped out from behind the bookcase that sat between myself and the far facing wall, and then incredibly carefully made my way down the center aisle of the small reference room toward my only visible escape.   I kept my eyes straight ahead toward the open door before me as I knew that now was absolutely no time for me to speak even one word to my literature professor since I knew that no good could possibly come from anything that came out of my mouth, but even though I desperately tried to do what I thought was best, Tom refused to let me get off that easy.

“Lucy…”  He started in a slightly hushed tone of voice that carried an emotion that I didn’t even want to begin to understand mere seconds before I finally reached the threshold of the door, but I cut him off before he could get any further in his speech.

“I should probably get back upstairs before Emily and Benjamin start to worry that something is wrong.  Good luck on your research, Professor.”  I stuttered out idiotically knowing full well that Tom’s excuse to Rachel for being in the reference room so late had been a complete and total lie in order to cover up our most recent scandalous activities, but due to the strangely uncomfortable feelings that we suddenly raging inside of me, I was willing to say almost anything in order to get out of that room unscathed.   _I would’ve even said that I liked Shakespeare if I had to.  But, ONLY if I had to._

“Lucy, I can see that you are upset.  Darling, if you would just allow me to…”  Tom began once again just as he took a slow step closer toward me, and then carefully reached out his hand.  I took in a deep breath as I desperately fought the urge inside of me that begged me to simply surrender and allow the man standing before me to touch me just once more before I promised myself that I would go, but by some miracle, I unexpectedly stood my incredibly shaky ground.

“Tom, it’s fine, really.  I’m just going to go back upstairs so that I can finish my paper, and then I am going to go home so that I can get some sleep.  Have a good night, Professor.  I will see you tomorrow in class.”  I said very passive aggressively reassuring Tom that he definitely would not be seeing me anymore that night, and then I turned on my heels once again toward the small room’s main door.  I knew that I was probably acting ridiculous judging by how Tom and I had only been sleeping together for a few days and I honestly did not even know that much about him, but the fact that my chest seemed to ache in response to what had just happened, well it hurt regardless of how I _thought_ that I should feel.

The rest of the evening before my literature paper was due surprisingly passed by me without any further fault or casualty.  I returned to my library table that miraculously still contained both of my study companions, and I quickly made up an actually believable story about being so nervous about the assignment that it had actually made me physically sick.  Shortly thereafter, I finished the entirety of said nerve wracking paper with the help of my friends, and then was eventually collected by Emma who had apparently spent the last three hours wrapped up in Jonathan’s bed.  It was nearly three o’clock in the morning before I finally tucked myself in just beneath my slightly cooled cotton sheets, and about thirty minutes of soul searching after that when I eventually promised myself that I would put some much needed distance between myself and the good professor.  There was no absolutely way that I could continue to put myself in danger in the way that I had countless times over the past few days, and there was also no way that I could continue acting like a lovesick teenager, when I was in fact a fully grown adult.  I had responsibilities and promises to keep that I had been ignoring back in America, and as I lay there that night, I knew that I finally needed to once again start thinking with my head instead of my obviously crazed young heart.

The next morning moved by me in a completely sleep deprived blur as I fought to remain conscious during my law courses, and then somehow eventually find my way to the opposite side of campus where my dreaded literature paper would be due just after lunch.  I walked with Emma as we chatted about her “study date” with Jonathan the evening before that had resulted in two completely mind numbing orgasms, and I attempted to keep my mind off of the events that had happened after my most recent orgasms that had obviously done far more than just numb my idiotic mind.  I nodded and smiled at all of the correct times as we moved from the logical portion of Cambridge’s campus over to the side that apparently only dealt in foolish feelings, and as we did I attempted to not draw the correlation that this very comparison seemed to be illustrating so dramatically in my own life.

By the time that I reached the inside of the literature building, I finally looked down at my cell phone for the first time of the afternoon, and I very quickly realized that I had only one minute remaining before I would be deemed tardy for Professor Hiddleston’s class.  For the first time since the beginning of the term, I found myself running down the dusty halls that would lead me toward my dreaded destination, but no matter how quickly I ran I knew there was no way that I would make it on time.  My heart pounded loudly from deep inside of my chest as I finally reached the outside of Room One Fifty-Three, and my stomach knotted just as I finally gained the courage to turn the door’s knob.  I bit down carefully on my bottom lip as I very slowly stepped inside the tightly packed lecture hall, and then I felt my entire body tense when I eventually heard someone call my name.

“Well, good afternoon, Miss Taylor.”  Professor Hiddleston’s smooth penetrating voice called from the front of the room just as I heard the heavy oak door close tightly behind me, and then nearly every able bodied person in the class turn suddenly in my direction.  I swallowed thickly as I felt over a hundred pairs of eyes burning into my skin.

“Um...good afternoon, Professor.  I’m sorry that I am late.  I...um...my last class ran over.”  I lied as I desperately attempted to look anywhere in the room around me other than the man standing staring at me from his place beside his perfectly polished mahogany desk, but with every passing second I realized what an incredibly difficult task that was to actually complete.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Miss Taylor.  Please, find yourself an open seat.”  Tom said as he nodded toward a remaining seat in the center of the room, and then leaned back carefully against the side of his desk.  I breathed a sigh of relief as I nodded appreciatively in the direction of the man watching me with intense ocean colored eyes, and then very quickly found my way to my seat.  

“Miss Taylor?  Before you sit down, would you mind sharing with the class one of your favorite lines from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, since we are now bringing this work to a close?”  Tom asked in a tone of voice that I remembered very well from the first afternoon that I had met him, and subsequently caused my entire body to freeze just before I was able to settle in my seat.  The room around me broke out into whispers and quiet giggles as I once again straightened myself up to stand, and the look in Professor Hiddleston’s eyes caused my anxiety to return almost on command.  I swallowed thickly as I desperately searched my mind for any passage that I actually could remember in its entirety, and then very carefully I licked my lips before I began to speak.

“Um...of course, Professor.”  I stuttered as I felt every person in the room around me once again staring in my direction, but I attempted to push them out as I finally decided to simply wing it, and pray that everything worked out in my favor. That definitely sounded like a nice change of pace.

“ _And even for that do I love you the more.  I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you. Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me…_ ”  I began timidly as I lifted my eyes up from the floor where they had settled, and to the beautiful aquamarine colored eyes that appeared practically on fire as they looked back into mine.

“ _Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave, Unworthy as I am, to follow you. What worser place can I beg in your love, And yet a place of high respect with me, Than to be used as you use your dog?_ ”  I finally finished just as I felt heat rising in my cheeks as yet another of Helena’s speeches left my lips, and subsequently caused my heart to pound with a strange sense of uncontrollable desire from within my chest.  Tom stared at me in the same hungry way that he had nearly every day for the past five days, and then very slowly he licked his thin delicious tasting lips.

“I am both impressed and surprised at your choice in passages, Miss Taylor.  Given your previous opinions on this work, I would think that a selection a little more liberating would have caught your eye.”  The Professor said as I watched his hands curl over the edge of his desk just as they always did, and then grip the wood frame almost painfully tightly in his grasp.  I swallowed thickly as I felt a need rush up from deep inside me that the man standing before me always seemed to inspire, and a suddenly familiar desperation beginning to prickle my skin.

“What could possibly be more liberating than a woman having the courage to voice feelings this intense when she knows that the man she desires does not share her affections?”  I answered before my mind had truly even caught up with me, and my now completely unsupervised emotions were obviously running the show.  Tom swallowed thickly as he continued to watch me with hunger filled eyes, and then finally, he nodded his head very slowly in my direction.

“I guess you do have a point there, Miss Taylor.  Please take your seat.”  He said in a slightly rougher tone as I finally released a breath that I hadn’t realized that I had been holding, and then finally allowed myself to take my seat.

The remaining fifty minutes of my literature lecture felt nearly impossible to bear as I not only felt myself battling the strange new emotions that were raging so wildly inside of me, but also the almost consuming stare of my professor, that had been locked tightly in on mine ever since I had finally lowered myself down into my chair.  My heart hammered faster with every second that passed as I attempted to listen to the information for class that Benjamin was so vehemently giving, but for some reason I couldn’t seem to tear myself away from the magnetic force that was Tom.  Finally, after what felt like an eternity of shaking in my seat under the weight of my professor’s eyes, my class was finally over and we were all released from the doors of Room One-Fifty Three in order to return to the rest of our lives.   _Well, most of us anyway…._

“Miss Taylor.  Would you mind stopping by my desk before leave today?  I have a few questions regarding some of the quotations that you cited on last week's assignment.”  Tom’s voice echoed suddenly from the front of the room just as I reached the end of my row, and subsequently stopped me in my once determined tracks.  I swallowed thickly as I turned my attention down toward the man standing now just to the side of his expansive desk, and then I very slowly nodded my head.

The walk from the center of the lecture hall classroom to the edge of Tom’s desk was both the longest, and also the most nerve wracking walk of my life.  The entire time that I moved my professor’s eyes burned almost painfully into my skin, and with every second that he watched me, my heart increased in its nearly desperate pace from inside of my chest.  By the time that I finally reached the smooth freshly polished wooden surface of Tom’s desk, my pulse was jumping so frantically from inside of my veins that it felt as if I could barely breathe. The seconds ticked by like hours as I waited for the man standing before me to eventually speak, but then when he finally did,

“Good afternoon, Miss Taylor.”  Tom said formally as he sat down very carefully in the chair just behind his desk, and then lifted his eyes slowly up toward mine.  I swallowed thickly as I shifted my weight just slightly between my feet.

“Good afternoon, Professor.  You wanted to talk to me about last week’s assignment?”  I asked as I adjusted my knapsack just slightly on my shoulder, and then crossed my arms tightly over my chest.  Tom’s eyes narrowed in my direction, and then he leaned back casually against his chair.  

“I think we both know that I already both graded and returned that paper to you, Miss Taylor.”  He said as he lifted one of his hands up to the flesh of his mouth, and then very slowly ran two of his fingers across the length of his bottom lip.   _Oh sweet Jesus what was he doing?_

“I guess I just assumed that maybe you reconsidered my grade.  A mind can change, you know?”  I questioned slightly sarcastically as I immediately regretted my words, and silently began scolding myself for allowing my undealt with emotions to begin leaving my lips.  Tom tilted his head just slightly to the side as he continued studying me, and then he finally rested his previously occupied fingers at the edge of his jaw.

“Well, mine rarely does so I wouldn’t get your hopes up, Miss Taylor.  Would you mind telling me why you were late today?”  He asked immediately changing topics as his eyes stayed intensely on mine, and his index finger began tapping incredibly gently on the side of his face.  I took in a deep breath as I shifted my weight uneasily once again, and then shrugged my shoulders in a slightly forced sense of ambivalence.  

“I told you, Professor.  My last class ran late.”  I said as I tightened my arms where they lay wrapped around my chest, and then shifted my gaze just slightly away from Tom’s face.  I heard my professor quite heavily sigh, and then roughly clear his throat.  

“What you told me was a lie, darling.  I would now like the truth.”  He said in a slightly sterner tone of voice as I could sense him then once again carefully lick his lips.  I swallowed thickly as I felt my skin immediately begin to prickle.  

“For a little while I was talking with Emma, and then after that...well I just got lost in my own thoughts, I suppose.”  I answered as I noticed Tom shift slightly in his chair, and then cross one of his long legs very carefully over the other.   _I loved when he did that.  I didn’t know what it was, but it just seemed so...sexy._

“Would you mind telling me what it was that you were thinking about?  What was so incredibly important that it made you late for my class a second time this term.”  He asked as I finally turned my gaze back toward his, and then felt my breath immediately hitch inside of my throat as I noticed the almost unbearably intense look that was now clouding his eyes.

“I would actually prefer not to, Professor.  It’s...personal.”  I stuttered out as I dropped my eyes down to the floor beneath me just before I noticed Tom very gracefully push himself up and out of his chair.   _Oh, shit..._

“No offense, darling.  But, I don’t care what you prefer.  Now, tell me.”  He demanded in a strangely soft, but incredibly deep tone of voice as he began moving toward me almost tauntingly slowly.  I swallowed thickly as I instinctively began moving back away from Tom, and in the direction of the room’s nearest facing wall.

“Professor, I just…”  I started, but honestly I had no idea what to say.  Tom was continuing to advance on me, backing me further across the room, and from the look in his eyes I knew he wasn’t going to give up anytime soon.  I desperately searched my brain for a believable lie to give in answer to his question as the truth seemed almost impossible to actually dream of giving, but unfortunately I didn’t search fast enough.  Before I knew it my back very gently hit the wall behind me, and a few seconds later, Tom’s body stood in front of mine blocking any easily accessible route of escape.

“You were just avoiding me like you have been ever since last night.”  My professor finally said as his body moved dangerously close to mine, and his eyes lowered to lock in tightly on my gaze.  I sucked in a breath as I pressed myself harder against the wall behind me, and then slowly began shaking my head.

“I wasn’t avoiding you.  I was just busy with the paper that was due today, and my other courses have just been…”  I started, but I was quickly cut off again just as I felt Tom’s fingers move under my chin and then tilt my head even further up toward his.

“I could care less about your other courses, Lucy, and you finished your paper for my class last night.  Now, tell me why you are avoiding me.”  He said softly, but intensely as he stared down at me with eyes that seemed to carry emotions that I could never even attempt to begin to understand.  I swallowed thickly as I contemplated continuing to fight, but then found myself very swiftly beginning to give up.

“Um...It’s just that last night ended kind of strangely, and so I thought…”  I stammered out desperately attempting to both give an answer and also protect myself by not saying too much, but the look in Tom’s eyes immediately told me he was having none of that.

“You thought what?  That because a woman from my past showed up that I would suddenly lose interest in you?”  He asked as his eyes narrowed slightly, and his stance stiffened in a manner that caused him to appear even taller than he had before.  I dropped my eyes down to the floor beneath me, and then silently begged God or anyone else that was listening to give me an answer that would bring this terrifying conversation to as an abrupt of an end as humanly possible.   _Please..._

“Women from your past seem to be coming out of the woodwork here lately, Professor.  I just figured that maybe it would be best if…”  I started, but this time I cut myself off without the help of my professor.  No matter how jealous I might have been the night before or how strangely confused I had felt ever since I left the reference room door, I just couldn’t seem to bring myself to tell Tom that we needed to stop.  I knew that I needed to and I knew that my brain wanted me to, but the words for some reason just refused to leave my lips no matter how hard I attempted to push them.

“Best if what, Lucy?”  Tom prodded as he inched his body just slightly closer toward mine, and finally brought his knees to gently touch the front of my thighs.

“Tom...”  I stuttered as I felt Tom’s fingers once again move under my chin, but this time tilt my head in a manner toward his that nearly aligned our lips perfectly just inches from each other.   _Oh sweet Lord, I was in trouble_.

“Best if what?  Best if we stopped?  Is that what you wanted to say to me?”  He asked as I suddenly felt his hot breath hitting heavily against my mouth, and his thighs beginning to press tightly against mine.  I swallowed thickly as I attempted to somehow continue to think, but the way that Tom was touching me, well it was making it nearly impossible to do anything of the sort.

“No...I just...Who was she?”  I finally asked against the better judgement of my brain as my eyes settled back on Tom’s, and instantly locked in on his stare.  Tom sighed as he ran the tip of his nose gently over the slope of mine, and I instantly felt his mood just slightly begin to calm.  

“She is a dreadful woman named Rachel.  She is from a chapter of my past that has been closed for a long time, and from a book that I will never ever read again.”  He said as his voice slightly softened, and his hand dropped down from my chin to the curve of my neck.  I swallowed thickly as I felt my body beginning to shake.

“She kissed you.”  I whispered as I felt all of the jealousy from the night before beginning to rush up from deep inside of me once again, and the strange feelings that I had been battling all day beginning to rise to the surface.  Tom nodded slowly, bumping his nose gently against mine once again.

“Yes she did, but darling, you know that I did not kiss her back.”  He said in almost a whisper as his lips lightly grazed against the side of my cheek.  I swallowed thickly as I turned my head slightly, and once again aligned my mouth with Tom’s.

“I wanted to kill her.”  I said allowing the strange emotions that I knew that I shouldn't have even had to flow freely off of my lips.  Tom smiled an incredibly small smile, and then ran his lips softly over mine.

“She means nothing to me, darling.”  He whispered as his smile slowly faded, and his eyes once again met mine.  I nodded just as I felt the edges of Tom’s fingertips skim down over the rough plane of my collarbone, and then begin painfully slowly moving down toward my chest.   _Uh-oh..._

“Good, I mean...I really should probably go.  If someone would find us like this…”  I stuttered out just as I felt the rough pads of Tom’s fingertips brush gently over the fabric that covered my left breast, and his hips begin pressing slightly harder against my side.

“They would think that you were quite the scandalous student, and that I…”  He started just as he began massaging his thumb gently over the taut pebbled flesh of my left nipple, and in turn gained a soft groan from deep inside of my throat.

“...was a very bad professor.”  I finished just as my eyes once again locked in on Tom’s, and my vision began to cloud with the lust that was beginning to build quite quickly inside of my body.  I swallowed thickly as I noticed a very devious smile break out over Tom’s lips just as I felt his unoccupied hand move down to the top of my jeans, and one of his fingers very quickly slip just beneath the button.

“Mmmm...darling.  You haven’t seen bad.”  He said from low within his throat just as I felt the button on my jeans pop open, and then Tom begin very slowly sliding my zipper down.  I swallowed thickly as my brain screamed at me to at least attempt to be logical, and this time just maybe do the right thing.

“Tom, we can’t do this here.”  I whispered as I pressed my body back harder against the wall behind me in order to at least attempt to create some much needed space between us, and just as I did, I felt one of Tom’s large hands slip down just beneath the thick material of my jeans.  A chill of pure excitement shot through my every single vein the second that his fingers came in contact with the suddenly wet material of my panties, and a rush of pure adrenaline flooded over my entire system.

“Are you sure, darling?  Your knickers beg to differ.”  He whispered just as one of his fingers slid over my now incredibly wet skin, and his lips moved even closer toward mine.

“Mmm...Tom.”  I whimpered as my hips immediately jutted forward toward my professor, and my clit became almost painfully wet against his touch.  Tom groaned as his index finger began slowly rubbing a long line up and down over my most sensitive skin, and then his lips came even closer to press against mine.

“Not having you in my bed last night was murder, Lucy.  I swear I could feel you breathing from down the hall.”  He whispered against my mouth as he added pressure to his finger sliding it further down, and then positioned his thumb just over my small bundle of incredibly sensitive nerves.

“I wanted to be with you, but...I couldn’t stop thinking about her...touching you.”  I panted just as Tom’s movements became slightly faster, and his breathing against my lips became incredibly hotter.

“I want nothing to do with that woman, Lucy, and I would have left the instant I saw her last night if I hadn’t feared her finding you.  You are the only thing that has been on my mind for weeks, and you…”  Tom said heatedly and as his last word left his lips I felt him push one of his fingers deeply inside of me, and in turn cause a throaty groan to escape from my throat.

“...Are the only person that I want touching me now.”  He continued as he slowly added a second finger, and then curved them both to an angle that caused my vision to immediately begin to blur.

“Oh fuck, Professor.”  I moaned as I reverted instantly back to Tom’s formal title, and also lifted one of my hands and knotted it into the crisp material of his pressed grey shirt.

“Mmm...there you are, darling.  Did my favorite student forget so quickly how good I am at hitting that spot?”  Tom purred as he pushed his body even harder against mine, nearly crushing me against the wall, and then began rhythmically moving his fingers even deeper inside of my core.  I swallowed thickly as I groaned once again, and immediately felt myself being reeled in by the delicious fantasy that was once again being created.

“God, no.  Mmm..we can’t do this.  Emma is waiting for me.  She knows I have your class last.”  I whimpered as I slid my fingers up the front of Tom’s shirt, and then wrapped my hand tightly around his collar until I had a firm grip on the material.  Tom groaned as he began working his fingers inside of me even deeper, and then twisted his hand just slightly as well.  

“Yes, I suppose she does.  It would be a pity if she were to find us like this, wouldn’t it?  Find you pressed up against this wall while I fuck you with my hand. You panting against my mouth, and digging your nails into my skin.  What a naughty little girl you would look like.”  Tom taunted seductively as he began thrusted his fingers faster inside of me, and then instantly pulled a light growl from my lips.

“Mmmm...Tom, please.”  I begged as I pushed my hips down harder against his hand, and attempted to take his digits as deep as gravity would possibly allow me.  Tom groaned as his hips rotated down slightly against mine, and in turn revealed his very impressive erection that was now pressing tightly against my form.

“Please what, darling?  Tell your professor what you want.”  He whispered against me as my free hand slowly made its way to the front of his pants, and hungrily began rubbing over the firm bulge there that instantly caused my mouth to water.

“Fuck me.  Please fuck me.  I need you inside of me.”  I begged without my own mind’s permission as I ground my hips down harder against Tom’s hand, and then moved my hand up to the buckle of  his belt.  The low rumble of a laugh mixed with a groan escaped from what sounded like the center of Tom’s chest as he pushed my incredibly indecent hand away from his groin, and then brought the same hand up to his lips.

“While that offer is tempting, darling, I think you just might have to wait.  I wish to take my time with you when it comes to that, and I’m afraid my classroom doesn’t afford us that luxury.  Right now, however, I plan on making you come until you forget everything that you learned in your studies today.  Maybe even everything from yesterday’s as well.”  He said roughly, and then finally his lips crashed down on mine, and sent my body immediately into over drive.

Tom’s lips were rough, hungry, and almost robbing against my own as his tongue greedily tasted my mouth, and subsequently pulled nearly every single insecurity that I previously felt completely out of my grasp.  His fingers moved faster with every passing second, and the thick masculine outline of desire for me that now pressed against my hip, well it caused me to crave things that I never could have imagined ever wanting before that day.  Before I realized what was happening the world around me swiftly began to spin, and the flesh of my core became so wet that my juices began spreading down to the flesh of my thighs.  Tom groaned as my hips began working even harder against him, and then he gasped as I suddenly moved away from his lips just as I leaned my head back on the wall behind me.  My professor’s eyes immediately began to burn into mine as I slid one of my hands up from the side of his neck where my nails had been digging, and then very carefully up to the flesh of his lips.  I kept my gaze tightly on his as I very carefully slipped two of my fingers into his deliciously wet mouth, and then I felt all of my muscles begin to tighten just as his teeth clamped down roughly on the sides of my knuckles.

“Make me come for you, Professor.”  I said in a strangely strong, but also incredibly desperate sounding voice just as Tom’s eyes intensely locked in on mine.  Tom groaned as he ran his tongue slowly over the edges of my fingertips, and then he carefully wove his free hand behind my head.  A gasp escaped my lips just as I felt his fingers knot tightly into the back of my hair, and then my entire body felt as if it surged to life as he jerked my head back swifted just as his mouth once again reached mine.

“Come for me now, darling.  If you don’t, next time I do this, it’ll be in front of the class.”  Tom ordered incredibly seductively just as he bit down roughly on the skin of my full bottom lip, and in turn set into motion the most intense orgasm that I had ever experienced since...well...being with him.  

“Oh God, Tom!”  I screamed as I tasted the tangy sweet taste of blood in my mouth from the bite that Tom had given me just as my head jerked back and hit the wall behind me, and my body flooded with sensations that seemed almost too powerful to control.  Tom groaned as his mouth closed around mine yet again, the force of his kiss pinning me completely back against the wall, and pressing our bodies so tightly together that I could feel his ribs shift just slightly as he breathed.  I road out the remainder of my orgasm against him as I begged and pleaded for things that even I didn’t completely understand, and then finally after a few minutes, I lifted my eyes back up toward his once I had finally gained the strength to pull away from his kiss.  Tom licked his lips slowly as he watched me obviously attempting to choose my words wisely, and once I finally found some that I thought would suffice, I once again opened my mouth to speak to him.

“Is this the part where we tell each other that we aren’t going to do this again?”  I asked after I swallowed thickly against the lump that had formed deep inside of my throat, and then smiled innocently back at my professor.  Tom smiled as he shook his head very slowly, and then brushed a few stray strands of hair away from my face incredibly gently.

“No, darling.  This is the part where I finally ask you out on a date.”  He said abruptly, and with those words, I felt my heart begin to pound for a far different reason than it had only a few moments before.  A reason that honestly scared me far more than the idea of getting caught, and immediately brought back the confusion that I had felt so intensely ever since leaving the reference room the previous night.

**_A/N:  Hello again everybody!  Oh, the amount of apologies I want to give.  In case you haven’t read the comment I posted a few days ago, I recently went through an ugly divorce. Hence the disappearing off the internet for nearly a year.  I greatly apologize for not announcing this fiction going on hold, but I guess emotions are funny things. Anyway, I do apologize for the absence, but…..I’m back baby!  Haha, anyway I hope you like this most recent chapter.  I will try to keep things moving and update more regularly now.  Nothing better to heal a girl than a little Professor Hiddleston, right?  :)  Oh, and don’t worry I will re-edit this.  It is late, and there are most likely a large amount of errors, but I wanted to post before I chickened out, and deleted it lol._ **

 

 

 

 


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